Kari Lake, Mark Lamb report modest campaign cash in US Senate race

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake’s campaign raised $4.3 million in the spring, less than half her Democratic rival’s haul for the same period, and she added to her existing debt as well.

Lake’s closest Republican challenger, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, reported another modest fundraising period, bringing in $422,000. His campaign reported $264,000 in cash and $117,000 in debt.

Lake entered July with $2.8 million in cash and $812,000 in debt.

The latest numbers, filed Monday, make clear that whoever wins the GOP nomination when the Senate primary ends July 30 will begin at a decided financial disadvantage compared with U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who is unopposed for his party’s nomination.

All of them were vying to succeed the retiring U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.

Gallego raised $10.4 million in the last quarter and ended that period with $9.2 million in cash with no debt.

Gallego’s cash lead may become more important to his efforts as polling continues to show Arizona is leaning to former President Donald Trump in the race for the White House.

Lake has a chance to raise her already-high profile with her scheduled speech on Tuesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Lake, the Republican front runner, spent nearly as much as she took in during the last quarter. But she had a noticeably lighter advertising presence in that time compared with Gallego.

Lake will also benefit from $1.4 million in a shared fundraising operation split with the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Arizona Republican Party. That shared committee also had $55,000 in debt.

Lake conceded Gallego outraised her during a radio interview with KTAR (92.3 FM) last week in which she baselessly questioned the source of his campaign funds.

“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 total Lake mentioned included the funds with her shared committee.

In a statement, the Gallego campaign gloated over its higher fundraising.

“Arizonans are rejecting power-hungry Kari Lake and her dangerous plan to ban abortion,” campaign spokeswoman Hannah Goss said. “Meanwhile, grassroots donors across Arizona are chipping in what they can to send Marine combat veteran Ruben Gallego to the U.S. Senate to continue his work of cutting costs, defending abortion rights, and taking care of our veterans.”

The April-June quarter for Lake included whatever she claimed from an April 3 fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Her campaign said within two days of that event that it had taken in more than $1 million. It included appearances by comedian Roseanne Barr and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Jim Bruer.

It was unclear how the campaign arrived at that figure, based on the report filed Monday.

Records show the campaign took in $280,000 from individuals within seven days of that event. By comparison, Lake received $597,000 from such donors in the final seven days of the last quarter, which is when campaigns typically receive a flood of donations.

The campaign only took in $57,000 from political action committees for the entire quarter, with all but $5,000 of that in May or June.

Lake’s joint fundraising committee also raised $50,000 within a week of the Florida fundraiser. That committee also raised more, $274,000, in the final week of the quarter than it did around the beginning.

As it did in the first two quarters, the Lake campaign added more debt as well, some $360,000. That brings the campaign’s total to $812,000.

Her available cash climbed from $2.5 million entering April to $2.8 million entering July. That’s less than a third of Gallego’s total and suggests the reason that her campaign has relied on smaller advertising buys that split costs with the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The Lamb campaign posted its best quarterly fundraising numbers in a year, but the total was still 10 times less than Lake raised.

His campaign has struggled to raise its visibility, and Lake hasn’t made that task any easier.

She refused to debate him, pointing to a single online forum they did as sufficient and internal polling that showed her leading him by 30 percentage points in the GOP primary.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake, Mark Lamb report modest campaign cash in AZ US Senate race