Burnt Orange Report

Money in TX Congressional Races

By Byron LaMasters

Good Statesman article today with insight on where the five incumbent Democratic Texas congressional races stand in terms of money currently.

At first glance, Martin Frost appears to be way behind in cash on hand, but he just purchased a $1 Million media buy:

Sessions, a Republican with nearly $2.3 million in the bank, is ideally set for a last-month push in the expensive Dallas-Fort Worth media market.

While his Democratic opponent has outraised Sessions by almost $350,000, he has spent most of his nearly $4.2 million haul, leaving the Frost campaign with $576,872 available as of Sept. 30 — about one-fifth of Sessions' bankroll.

"That creates a situation where we can get our message out there without a response from him, " said Chris Homan, Sessions' campaign manager.

The figures, however, hide a $1 million media buy, closed just before Frost filed his fund-raising documents, for TV and radio commercials through Election Day, spokesman Justin Kitsch said.

In the Stenholm / Neugebauer race the cash on hand is just about even:

The other battle of incumbent representatives, Democrat Charlie Stenholm and Republican Randy Neugebauer, is a $4 million race that has already flooded voters with hundreds of TV commercials in the relatively cheap Lubbock and Abilene markets.

Stenholm's $2.1 million is the most he's raised in 14 campaigns, though Neugebauer had a slight edge in available cash.

Chet Edwards is in the best shape in the polls, and its the same story with money. Arlene Wohlgemuth has spent most of her money, and even with a large investiment by the Club for Growth, Edwards still has a leg up in TX-17:

Challenger Arlene Wohlgemuth had less than $163,000 remaining on Sept. 30, the smallest amount among the five races. That could be a looming factor in a contest in which her opponent, Waco Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards, had almost $668,000 in the bank.

The discrepancy becomes even greater if a Democratic poll proves accurate in its findings: a 50 percent to 40 percent lead for Edwards.

In both TX-1 and TX-2 the Democrat leads in cash on hand:

Poe, criticized by Republicans for anemic fund-raising, added luster to his campaign by collecting almost $459,000 in the third quarter. Still, Democrat Lampson collected $100,000 more, pushing him beyond the $2 million mark, almost double Poe's total.

In the Piney Woods of Northeast Texas, GOP challenger Louie Gohmert outraised Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Marshall, by more than $100,000. Sandlin, however, continued to hold an advantage in available cash, up more than $150,000 on Sept. 30.

Overall pretty good news for all the Democrats. The only Democrat significantly behind in cash on hand is Frost, and that's because he just made a $1 Million media buy.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at October 17, 2004 05:12 PM | TrackBack