Fundraising in Congressional Race Slightly Shifts Post Primary

The second quarter fundraising reports have been published by the FEC and there are a couple of items to take away in North Dakota’s Congressional race. Though Kelly Armstrong maintains the overall money advantage, reports show Mac Schneider has out-raised him since the pre-primary report at the end of May. Let’s dive through the numbers, and get a sense of where things stand.

Kelly Armstrong has the advantage with cash on hand, and overall quarter two fundraising. His report indicates he raised approximately $381,000 and has $407,377 cash on hand. Also of note, Armstrong had loaned his campaign $300,000 early on. Since the primary report, Armstrong raised approximately $111,000. You can see the detailed report here.

Mac Schneider raised approximately $217,000 in the second quarter and has $281,635 cash on hand. He has not loaned his campaign any money and has raised approximately $122,000 since the June primary. A press release indicated the campaign has raised over 80% of those contributions came from North Dakota at an average of about $170 per person. You can see the detailed report here.

I find it interesting Schneider has out-raised Armstrong since the end of May pre-primary report. I’m curious if Armstrong’s perceived slow down is at all attributed to federal contribution limits? Has he burned through oil money and traditional NDGOP donors? Is it simply temporary? Or, is it that Schneider’s campaign and fundraising have picked up since the North Dakota primary?

While looking at the numbers, it cannot be ignored that Armstrong has loaned his campaign $300,000. I was critical of Tom Campbell who spent approximately $750,000 of his own money and got nowhere. For argument sake, if the $300,000 wasn’t loaned, the cash on hand story would be rather different. Coincidentally, Armstrong has already spent over $318,000 with Odney advertising for media presumably to boost his name ID.

Because of the high-profile Senate race, the Congressional race, unfortunately, seems to be overshadowed. It shouldn’t be as it’s our lone seat in the House. I’ve been very intrigued with how this race will develop and play out. We get caught up in fundraising reports because it is measurable. Yet, the climate including may play a larger role than anticipated in this race which isn’t readily measurable.