Himes has fundraising edge with race in final days
GREENWICH — The numbers are stark: $1.4 million to $28,000.
The election won’t be decided until Nov. 3, but U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, is already well ahead when it comes to the money race — and he’s sharing the wealth, using his fundraising operation to help progressive candidates in far-flung states like Alabama and Illinois.
According to information filed with the Federal Election Commission, Himes is easily outdistancing
his Republican opponent Jonathan Riddle. As of Sept. 30, Himes, a Democrat running for his seventh term in Congress, has $1,381,674.49 in total receipts with $1,244,835.07 of that coming from total contributions. The FEC’s online records show 1,798 entries for individual contributors.
“Fundraising has been on track with previous years and there is a lot of enthusiasm and support for Jim and his re-election campaign as a leader in Congress who works very hard every day for his constituents,” Himes’ campaign manager Lauren Gray said on Thursday. “Every seat we can keep to maintain a Democratic majority in Congress is a priority.”
By contrast, Riddle, who is making his first run for political office, has only $28,491.47 in total receipts as of Sept. 30 with $17,505 of that coming from total contributions. Additional money came in the form of a $10,986.47 loan taking out by his congressional committee.
Riddle filed his paperwork with the FEC for his Riddle for Congress committee on July 1, 2019.
Riddle could not be reached for comment but Connecticut Republican Party Chair JR Romano said on Friday that it has been a challenging fundraising year for given the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You can’t go out and do the big
in-person events,” Romano said. “You can’t meet and greet with people and that makes it very challenging to go out and raise money. But there are other ways to campaign and we’re seeing that. I think people have been able to innovate and get on social media. It’s a lot different out there in 2020 than it was in 2010.”
Romano said he doesn’t believe too much in the value of lawn signs and he is confident that Riddle and other congressional Republican candidates have still been able to get their message out.
Himes has raised less than he did in 2018 when he had raised more than $3 million at an equivalent time in the campaign. Himes’ 2018 opponent, Greenwich resident Harry Arora had also raised more, bringing in more than $721,000 including a $500,000 personal loan.
Arora was elected as a state representative in January and is running for re-election this year.
In terms of spending, Himes’ campaign is listed as having made more than $2 million in expenditures from Jan 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020. In the July 1, 2019 to Sept. 30, 2020 time frame, Riddle spent $12,171.20 but only a little more than $4,000 has been listed under the FEC records.
Most of Riddle’s spending has occurred in two $1,500 payments for consulting services to External Affairs Inc. The FEC website also lists a $672.13 expenditure for printing/ mailing and $672.13 for printing fund
raising.
The expenditures for the Himes campaign include multiple payments for vendors, staffing, event spaces and catering. Multiple payments were made to The Conrad Group Ltd, a Washington D.C.-based consulting firm, for its work on fundraising; and to consultants from Next Level Partners, LLC to insure compliance with election laws.
The Himes campaign also made $1,249,973.71 in other disbursements including $250,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; $20,000 and $4,000 transfers to the Connecticut Democratic State Central Committee; donations to the Stamford and Norwalk NAACP; and donations to non-profits including Pacific House, the Child and Family
Guidance Center, the Greenwich United Way and the Greenwichbased Neighbor to Neighbor food and clothing bank.
Gray said the donations to other campaigns is something they have done before.
“We are continuing Jim’s tradition of supporting progressive candidates up and down the ballot with a $200,000 donation to DSCC, a $250,000 donation to the DCCC and frontline candidates on the ballot like Doug Jones for Senate (in Alabama) and Lauren Underwood for Congress (in Illinois),” Gray said. “Jim also made a $500,000 donation to the Biden Victory Fund to help elect Joe Biden.”