Region’s Democrats pile up cash for congressional races

Candidates in eight closely-watched congressional races in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have raised more than $36 million as of Sept. 30, according to quarterly campaign finance reports filed Monday.

As Democrats and Republicans battle for control of the House of Representatives, the region is home to several key races.

Democrats out-raised and outspent GOP candidates in most of the races, even in cases where Republicans were incumbents (see chart below).

In South Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District, for example, Democratic challenger Andy Kim raised more than two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, despite MacArthur loaning $1.5 million of his own cash to his campaign committee.

In a key Pennsylvania battle in Bucks County, Democratic challenger Scott Wallace outspent GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick by more than $6 million, mostly because the independently-wealthy Wallace has invested more than $8 million of his own fortune into the race.

In suburban races in the 4th, 5th, and 6th Districts in Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties, three Democratic candidates, all women, have fundraising leads in districts redrawn by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in January.

In Senate races, incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has a commanding fundraising lead over his Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta.

In New Jersey, wealthy Republican challenger Bob Hugin has invested $24 million into his race, outspending  incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez by nearly a 3-1 margin.

Fundraising is only one measure of the strength of a campaign, of course, and the tallies here don’t include spending by independent groups such as super PACs, which are investing heavily in many of these races.

I’ll have some reports on outside spending in the races soon.

Here are what the campaign committees reported Monday. The figures for money raised and spent are for the entire election cycle through Sept. 30.

Fundraising in key congressional races

Pennsylvania

District	Candidate	Raised	Spent	On hand 9/30
1	Brian Fitzpatrick – R	$3,090,808	$2,019,455	$1,202,025
1	Scott Wallace – D	$9,814,245	$8,396,971	$1,417,372
4	Madeleine Dean – D	$1,173,790	$803,218	$371,403
4	Dan David – R	$429,035	$363,457	$65,577
5	Mary Gay Scanlon – D	$1,616,984	$1,147,736	$469,247
5	Pearl Kim – R	$458,978	$303,255	$155,722
6	Chrissy Houlahan – D	$3,715,557	$1,086,130	$2,630,577
6	Greg McCauley – R	$239,746	$110,065	$128,681
7	Susan Wild – D	$2,437,910	$1,563,221	$873,688
7	Marty Nothstein – R	$856,359	$567,484	$288,875

New Jersey

District	Candidate	Raised	Spent	On hand 9/30
2	Jeff Van Drew – D	$1,558,548	$683,479	$875,069
2	Seth Grossman – R	$187,371	$70,904	$124,144
3	Tom MacArthur – R	$3,676,494	$2,819,299	$918,162
3	Andy Kim – D	$4,427,808	$3,347,524	$1,083,161
7	Leonard Lance – R	$2,106,456	$1,317,706	$1,032,461
7	Tom Malinowski – D	$5,445,950	$3,673,046	$909,216

Senate races

Pennsylvania

Candidate	Raised	Spent	On hand 9/30
Bob Casey – D	$20,938,388	$14,116,615	$6,701,571
Lou Barletta – R	$6,188,829	$5,338,248	$1,278,287

New Jersey

Candidate	Raised	Spent	On hand 9/30
Bob Menendez – D	$11,136,059	$7,578,967	$5,579,489
Bob Hugin – R	$26,238,529	$22,717,853	$3,520,675

source: Federal Election Commission reports; covers activity through Sept. 30