Here's how much Senate campaign cash Rep. Ruben Gallego raised in the spring quarter
U.S. Senate candidate Ruben Gallego raked in $10.4 million between April and June, while his cash total dipped slightly as his campaign flooded screens across the state during the entire quarter.
The eight-figure fundraising total is a first for the Arizona Democrat and likely set the pace again in the race to replace the retiring U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.
Gallego ended the quarter with $9.2 million in cash, which was down from the $9.6 million his campaign had entering April.
During an appearance on Tuesday on KTAR (92.3 FM), Republican Kari Lake seemed to concede that Gallego far outraised her while baselessly questioning the source of his support.
“We’re raising good money, but the Democrats always raise more,” she said. “God only knows where their money is coming from. … We had over $5 million raised this quarter.”
The numbers suggest a vigorous quarter of spending for Gallego’s campaign, most visibly on sustained biographical advertising introducing Gallego to potential voters.
Lake, the Republican front-runner, couldn’t keep up with Gallego’s campaign in her first two quarters in the race and her fellow Republican Mark Lamb has posted lackluster totals since he entered the race in April 2023.
Lake, who has the endorsement of former President Donald Trump and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has not had the kind of presence on screens that rivals Gallego’s or acknowledges she still faces a GOP primary rival.
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Neither Lake nor Lamb have indicated their latest campaign fundraising numbers, which are due later this month.
Lake ended March with $2.5 million in cash and $451,000 in debt. Lamb ended that month with $254,000 in cash and $117,000 in debt.
The Gallego campaign said 95% of its donors gave less than $100 for the sixth straight quarter.
“Our campaign is driven by over 250,000 small-dollar donors who know that Ruben will fight tirelessly in the Senate to defend abortion rights, cut costs for everyday Arizonans, and take care of our veterans,” Nichole Johnson, Gallego’s campaign manager, said in a written statement.
Gallego is one of two nonincumbent Democratic challengers facing what many observers expect to be a competitive race. The other is Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who had raised $16.1 million through March. Gallego raised $20.8 million through the same period.
The incumbent Democrats facing difficult reelection campaigns have all outraised Gallego, from Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who raised $40 million through March to Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., who raised $26.4 million through the same period.
Gallego’s quarterly haul set another record high for his campaign, though it still trailed Sen. Mark Kelly’s record-smashing 2020 campaign. In the same period in 2020, Kelly, D-Ariz., took in $12.8 million, when donation limits were lower than they are now.
His campaign also had nearly $24 million in cash entering July.
During Sinema’s 2018 run as a Democrat, she took in $3 million in the same quarter on her way to setting a then-record for the cycle.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Senate race: Here's how much Ruben Gallego raised in spring