ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan is outpacing all of his GOP opponents in the fundraising race for an open Senate seat in New Mexico, federal records show.
According to the Federal Election Commission, the Santa Fe Democrat raised $973,774 in the last three months of 2019. That’s more than all of his potential Republican opponents and his Democratic challenger combined, reports show.
Records also show that Lujan had a healthy $2 million cash-on-hand at the start of 2020.
Gavin Clarkson, a former U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs officials under President Donald Trump, led all Republicans in fundraising during the same period. He pulled in $249,398 during the last three months in 2019 and reported having $134,279 cash-on-hand.
Businessman Mick Rich reported raising $45,658 during the same period and had $97,787 cash-on-hand.
Elisa Martinez, the founder of an anti-abortion group in New Mexico, reported raising $154,843 after fanfare around her announcement about getting in the race. She reported having $68,623 cash-on-hand. The records filed by the Martinez campaign reflected the last four months of 2019 instead of the last three since she got into the race later than Clarkson and Rich.
Records did not include campaign finance information for shooting range owner Louis Sanchez or former television weatherman Mark Ronchetti since they’ve recently announced they would seek the GOP nomination.
Former Española Finance Director Andrew Perkins, who is challenging Lujan for the Democratic nomination, also did not report any campaign finance numbers.
The money disadvantage for Republicans illustrates the challenges the GOP faces in winning in a state that hasn’t had a Republican U.S. senator since Pete Domenici retired in 2009.
Two Republican candidates seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small for a seat that represents southern New Mexico have raised more money and had more cash-on-hand than their Senate hopeful counterparts.
Torres Small won the historically conservative-leaning district in 2018 by fewer than 3,000 votes.
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