Incumbent Rep. Ted Budd's fundraising is lagging behind a Democratic challenger who has raised three times more money than the North Carolina Republican in the first quarter.
He was supposed to be in a fairly safe seat, representing a district that President Donald Trump carried easily in 2016.
But Kathy Manning, a philanthropist, longtime Democratic donor, and former immigration lawyer, raised $662,448 in the first three months of 2018. Budd raised $215,979 in the quarter.
Budd’s fundraising has been an ongoing worry for Republican campaign officials. He was one of 43 incumbent Republicans who met individually with National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, earlier this year after their campaigns were outraised by potential Democratic challengers in the final quarter of 2017.
“The bottom line is you’ve got to work at it,” said GOP strategist John McLaughlin. “For an incumbent to be out-fundraised by a Democrat, it just means that the Democrat challengers are working harder than the incumbents this time, and that’s not a good sign.”
Budd, a gun store owner who had never held elected office, won his seat in 2016 after surviving a 17-person Republican primary in the five-county 13th District, which includes several communities north of Charlotte.
The district is one of two Republican-held districts in North Carolina that Democrats now think they can flip.The other is the 9th Congressional District served by incumbent Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger.
During the first quarter, the nonpartisan publication Inside Elections shifted the 13th district’s designation from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”
“The question is whether this cycle will be normal. Kathy Manning has proved to be a good fundraiser,” said Nathan Gonzales, Inside Elections’ editor and publisher.
Manning, who announced her Democratic candidacy in December 2017, raised more than $530,000 in that first month of her campaign while Budd raised $179,986 in the last three months of 2017.
The money Budd raised in the first three months of 2018 ranked him 16th among the House’s 32 incumbent Republican freshman, a McClatchy analysis of Federal Election Commission filings found.
Fundraising numbers tend to swell when a candidate has a competitive race or represents a fairly wealthy area. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida led the Republican freshman class, raising $777,422 in the first quarter. Rep. Jodey Harrington of Texas was last with $44,665.
Still, Budd’s fundraising numbers have earned him spots in recent stories with headlines like “The Worst Republican Slackers” (The National Journal) and “Top Republicans fret complacency could cost them red seats in midterm” (The Washington Examiner).
McLaughlin said Budd and other GOP incumbents, need to step up their fundraising efforts if they hope to avoid losing the House in November. Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats in November to win the majority for the first time in eight years.
Discussing his fundraising, Budd told North Carolina’s WXII television “That is old information … I’ve hit every target they’ve asked me to hit except for Quarter One, and that was when I was sworn in 14 months ago.”
Most of Budd’s campaign contributions came from individual donors.
He received $90,250 from political action committees, including those affiliated with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
Budd will get some help on messaging in the fall.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a leading GOP super PAC focused on the House, will spend an unspecified amount on digital ads in Budd’s district ahead of November’s general election, part of a $48-million strategy to defend 30 key congressional districts.
Ben Wieder contributed to this story.
William Douglas: 202-383-6026, @williamgdouglas
Comments