State and legislative candidates required to file 8-day-out reports raised nearly $12.7 million between January 22 and February 20, and they spent $19.3 million. Much of the primary action is in the House, where contested primary candidates accounted for $10.3 million in contributions (81%) and $12.1 million in expenditures (63%). At least 31 House candidates raised $100K or more for the period.
As primary campaigns near the finish line, big contributions become more important than raising money from small donors in the district. Thus most contributions during the final weeks come from outside the district, and, often, from a small number of wealthy donors and PACs. This year is no exception. Ten PACs or groups accounted for more than $4.5 million, or 35%, of all contributions reported for the period. This is not an exhaustive analysis, so some other combination of 10 PACs or groups could have combined for an even larger total.
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