Schneider Reportedly Raised Nearly $130,000 in First Month of Campaign

According to someone close to the campaign, Mac Schneider will report he raised nearly $130,000 in the first month of his campaign. The quarterly report spanned from January 1st to March 31st. Schneider announced his candidacy on March 6th, less than two weeks before the Dem-NPL convention. The big haul in a short time is a promising sign for the Democratic hopeful heading into a race for an open seat.

When I first reported on Schneider’s fundraising on March 9th, he said his focus was really on building support among delegates rather than fundraising. The Democratic endorsement for U.S. House was held on March 17th in Grand Forks. Taking that into consideration, Schneider raised nearly $130,000 in a little over two full weeks dedicated to fundraising.

For comparison in 2014, George Sinner entered the U.S. House race in mid-March. At about this time in the campaign, the first quarterly report, Sinner reported having raised approximately $37,000. He was amazingly able to put together a nearly $1,000,000 haul against an incumbent, Kevin Cramer, in a horrible election year for Democrats.

Now consider what is different in 2018. This is for an open seat. There is no incumbent. If national trends are any indication, it may be a strong year to run as a Democrat. Following the NDGOP nomination of Kelly Armstrong as their candidate this weekend, Tom Campbell and Tiffany Abentroth both said they will take the fight into the June Primary. Campbell has already reported spending nearly $1 million of his own money, how much will he and Armstrong spend against each other to convince primary voters they are the right person? What lengths are they willing to go? How will a third upcoming candidate in Abentroth impact that election?

One thing is certain, Schneider is well on his way to raising the necessary resources to be highly competitive in this race. It is not too much of a stretch to project he’ll be able to raise over $1 million heading into the fall. What is important for him is the ability to raise that cash quickly. With another high-profile race in ND, he’ll likely want to get his message up early and often.