One idea of the relative strength of a political campaign is the amount of money it's raised. As we stand six months out from the November elections, it's no surprise that Maryland's incumbent members of Congress (with one exception) lead the way in both money in both money raised and cash on hand.
In the lone statewide race, incumbent Senator Barbara Mikulski trails only Eighth District Congressman Chris Van Hollen in cash on hand with just over $2.7 million in the bank. Among her GOP challengers only Eric Wargotz has cracked the six-digit barrier in either cash on hand or total contributions to date, with Wargotz sitting on a small war chest of $118,321. So far Eric's raised just under $200,000 for his effort, with his closest competition being Jim Rutledge and his total take of $74,709.
Van Hollen leads the Congressional pack with $3,037,116 on hand, and without a serious financial challenger may be counted on to help out vulnerable Democrats in other races. One of those other Democrats at risk is First District Congressman Frank Kratovil, who has $1,034,031 cash on hand but trails challenger Andy Harris is recent polls. For his part, Harris dwarfs all other Maryland Republicans with $703,939 in his cash coffers.
Another Republican challenger who is achieving a measure of fiscal success is Charles Lollar in the Fifth District, who's raised just over $100,000 so far and has $60,581 on hand. His primary opponent, Collins Bailey, has raised a similar amount and has $96,227 on hand but $100,000 in debt as well.
First District GOP newcomer Rob Fisher has raised $135,333 so far but much of it came from $115,000 in campaign loans.
The lone incumbent trailing in fundraising thus far this cycle is Sixth District Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, who's raised $131,192 to opponent Casey Clark's $152,527; however, $50,000 of that is in the form of a loan. Bartlett has $384,235 on hand compared to Clark's $70,731.
Other incumbents and their most recent cash of hand totals:
- Dutch Ruppersberger (2nd District): $927,620
- John Sarbanes (3rd District): $637,534
- Donna Edwards (4th District): $134,813
- Steny Hoyer (5th District): $1,485,143
- Elijah Cummings (7th District): $760,234
It would be difficult for potential challengers to match these totals unless they can self-fund their campaign, but six months is a lifetime in politics and all the money in the world can't help an incumbent whose voter bloc feels betrayed by their representation. In a couple cases, incumbents may not be as safe as their coffers suggest.
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