Federal candidates and officeholders were required to file April quarterly reports by today (Sunday). These reports cover contributions received and expenditures made between February 15 and March 31. Not all of the reports or totals are available online as of this moment, but we have some highlights for key runoff and general election races:
SEN: We have not seen the actual reports, and don’t expect to see them for at least a week, but we know from candidates’ statements that U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) raised twice as much as Sen. Ted Cruz (R) during the first quarter of 2018. O’Rourke’s campaign said he raised $6.7M during the first three months of the year, meaning he raised around $4.5M since February 14. Cruz’s campaign said he raised $3.2M, which includes funds he raised for two additional fundraising committees. Our Crib Sheets will show only the amounts raised and spent by his re-election campaign, so the gap between O’Rourke and Cruz will grow larger. O’Rourke is expected to have at least $8M on hand, which would be roughly the same as Cruz has combined in his re-election account, the Ted Cruz Victory Committee ($62K) and the Jobs, Freedom and Security PAC ($548K). The latter two accounts file reports electronically, but the official campaign accounts file paper copies with the Secretary of the U.S. Senate and then are scanned and transmitted to the Federal Election Commission.
CD2 open: Dan Crenshaw out-raised Rep. Kevin Roberts (R-Houston), $224K to $142K, for the period and has out-raised Roberts, $313K to $223K, during the first quarter of 2018. Roberts still holds the advantage in overall contributions for the campaign cycle ($479K to $307K). Roberts has the advantage over Crenshaw in cash on hand, $140K to $80K.
CD5 open: Bunni Pounds out-raised Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell) by $50K for the period ($237K to $187K) and has out-raised Gooden, $353K to $235K, during the first quarter. Overall, Pounds has out-raised Gooden, $568K to $346K, for the election cycle to date. Pounds holds a $170K to $119K advantage in cash on hand.
CD6 open: Jake Ellzey outraised Ron Wright, $96K to $52K, for the period, but Wright has a slight advantage, $133K to $123K, during the first quarter. Ellzey has out-raised Wright, $192K to $167K, for the election cycle. Neither has much on hand, but Ellzey has a slight advantage, $25K to $9K. Wright more than doubled his loan principal during the period, increasing it to $137K from $68K.
CD7: U.S. Rep. John Culberson (R-Houston) was out-raised by both Democratic runoff candidates for the period, but he has a strong lead in cash on hand. Culberson raised $292K for the period, bringing his quarterly total to $385K, and he reported having $921K on hand. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher raised $405K since February 14, for a first-quarter total of $509K, and she has $392K on hand. Laura Moser raised $297K for the period, just edging past Culberson, to bring her first-quarter total to $446K. Moser has $92K on hand. Fletcher, Moser and Alex Triantaphyllis, a Democrat who missed the runoff, each have raised more than $1M for the election cycle. Culberson has raised $1.3M for the cycle, about $70K more than Fletcher and $266K more than Moser.
CD21 open: Republican runoff candidate Chip Roy out-raised his opponent Matt McCall better than 6-to-1, and Roy has a nearly 4-to-1 advantage in cash on hand. Since February 14, Roy has raised $171K, bringing his first quarter total to $343K. McCall raised $28K, bringing his quarterly total to $65K. Roy reported $242K on hand to McCall’s $65K.
On the Democratic side, Joseph Kopser out-raised Mary Wilson better than 8-to-1 for the period and has out-raised her, $303K to $29K, during the first quarter of 2018. Kopser holds a $279K to $20K advantage in cash on hand. Wilson finished first in the four-way primary despite being a distant fourth in contributions and expenditures.
CD23: U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio) was out-raised by Gina Ortiz Jones, $375K to $304K, for the period, extending her fundraising advantage for the first quarter to $620K to $421K. Hurd has two significant advantages. First, he has more than $1.6M on hand, well ahead of Jones’s $322K. Second, Jones must still get past Rick Treviño in the Democratic runoff. His report was not available, but he raised less than $5K before the primary.
CD27 open: Bech Bruun out-raised Michael Cloud better than 2-to-1 for the period, and Bruun has a better than 2-to-1 advantage in cash on hand. Bruun raised $187K since February 14, bringing his quarterly total to $335K, and he has $139K on hand. Cloud raised $90K for the period, bringing his quarterly total to $106K, and he has $63K on hand.
CD31: Democratic runoff candidate M.J. Hegar out-raised U.S. Rep. John Carter (R-Round Rock), $199K to $146K, for the period. Carter has the edge in cash on hand, $351K to $141K. Hegar faces Christine Mann in the runoff. Mann reported $6K in contributions and has a negative cash-on-hand balance.
CD32: U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) raised $484K for the period, bringing his total contributions for the election cycle to more than $2M. Collin Allred out-raised his Democratic runoff rival Lilian Salerno, $284K to $165K, for the period and has raised almost $400K during the first quarter. Allred has a $220K to $157K advantage in cash on hand, but Sessions has a much bigger advantage over either of them. He reported having $1.5M on hand.
Our Federal Crib Sheet has been updated with the latest campaign finance numbers.
©2018 Texas Election Source LLC
