WASHINGTON — For Rep. Brad Finstad the immediate advantage of being an incumbent is obvious.
Finstad, R-1 St was elected to complete the term of late Rep. Jim Hagedorn. After he was sworn in on August 12, he saw a spike in contributions from political action groups (PACs).
According the Federal Elections Commission’s latest filings , Finstad’s campaign raised approximately $322,000 between July 21 and Sept. 30, according to the latest . A number of PACs contributed nearly half the money (or $152,000), including the NRA and National Shooting Sports PAC.
Finstad also received $500 from Candy PAC, a political fund of National Confectioners Association. This is a source of disagreement with Minnesota’s sugarbeet growers about the reauthorization and extension of the sugar program in the Farm Bill.
Finstad’s rival, Jeff Ettinger (ex-CEO of Hormel), raised less than $175,000 during the period covered by his latest filing. $12,000 of this amount came from PACs. Ettinger lent $700,000 to his campaign, making the total loans to the candidate’s campaign $1.2 million.
Campaigns enter the final stretch and the incumbents in the state’s Congress are better placed than their challengers for political cash.
Craig holds a clear money advantage in the most competitive congressional race between Rep. Angie Craig (D-2 and) and Republican Tyler Kistner. Kistner’s opponent, her campaign raised $6.4 million and had $3 million cash in hand as of September 30. Kistner has reported having $494,000 cash and raised $2.9 million in this campaign cycle.
In the 3 rd Congressional district, Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips has raised $2.1million in campaign funds while Tom Weiler, his Republican challenger, has raised $4514,416. Phillips’ campaign funds have not always been well-stocked. Phillips, who defeated Rep. Erik Paulsen to become the first Democrat to represent the district in 2018 was forced to borrow his campaign $500,000 only weeks before the election.
The 4
Th
Congressional District: Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum raised $2 million during this campaign cycle, while May Lor Xiong, her Republican opponent, raised $118,367.
Cicely Davis (the Republican candidate against Rep. Ilhanomar, D-5 th) has raised almost as much political cash than her opponent. Omar has raised approximately $3 million, while Davis has raised nearly $2.9 million. Omar’s progressiveness has been a benefit to Davis’s campaign, although Omar is criticized by some Republicans out of state. However, the GOP candidate is still considered a strong contender in the heavily Democratic 5 .
To defeat Jeanne Hendricks (Democrat), Tom Emmer raised over $2.2 million in the 6 th. He also raised approximately $50,000.
In the 7
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Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach raised $1.7 Million, spending approximately $1 million on polling, consultants, fundraising, and other things to fight off Democrat Jill Abahsain whose campaign has only raised $26,736.
Jen Schultz (a Democrat) is currently challenging Rep. Peter Stauber. She has raised a respectable amount of money, approximately $530,000, through a large number of small donations as well as help from key labor unions like the United Steelworkers or the Laborers International Union of North America.
Stauber still managed to raise more than $1million in campaign cash and had $1.1 million cash in his campaign account at Sept. 30, even though he was only a third of the way through.
The MinnPost Campaign Finance Dashboard provides a complete campaign finance overview, including information about candidates for state office.
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