Sestak has slight cash advantage over Toomey to end Senate race
Democrat Joe Sestak headed into the final weeks of the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race with a narrow cash-on-hand advantage over his rival, Republican Pat Toomey, according to third-quarter fund-raising reports filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission.
Democrat Joe Sestak headed into the final weeks of the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race with a narrow cash-on-hand advantage over his rival, Republican Pat Toomey, according to third-quarter fund-raising reports filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission.
Sestak had just under $2.7 million in the bank as of Sept. 30, while Toomey had almost $2.3 million. Cash on hand is a traditional measure of a campaign's fiscal health at a given point.
During the three-month period, Sestak was outspent by $6 million to $2.7 million. Toomey also had a slight edge in fund-raising prowess. He took in $3.6 million from July through September, the reports showed, compared with Sestak's $3.2 million.
Toomey advisers said the difference in cash on hand was not significant, noting that they had prepaid for a block of TV advertising time through Oct. 11.
Meanwhile, the Sestak campaign was feeling good about its position after being outspent steadily since the May primaries, both by Toomey's campaign and pro-Republican independent groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "This is an election, not an auction," spokesman Jonathon Dworkin said. "We will have the resources necessary to get our message out."
In the Eighth Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy took in $947,000 from July through September and his campaign had $1,617,000 in cash on hand. Murphy's Republican challenger, former congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, raised $496,000 over the same period and had $834,000 on hand.
In the Seventh Congressional District, Republican Patrick Meehan had his best fund-raising quarter, turning in more than $758,000 and increasing his cash on hand to more than $1.5 million. Democrat Bryan Lentz raised $316,000 and now has $641,000 on hand, according to finance reports. Jim Schneller, a third-party candidate, had not released information as of 12:15 a.m. Saturday morning.
In the Sixth Congressional District race, U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach (R., Pa.) raised about $100,000 more this quarter than his Democratic challenger, Manan Trivedi. Gerlach raised $507,000 in the third quarter and has $633,000 cash on hand. Trivedi reported raising $427,000 and has $393,000 cash on hand.