Though official fundraising reports have yet to be released by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), the campaign spokesman for freshman Congressman Walt Minnick, a Democrat, has gone on record saying that his candidate had one of his best fundraising quarters ever. John Foster, Minnick's voice for his campaign, told a reporter from Congressional Quarterly that the freshman raked in $410,000 between the beginning of April and the end of June this year.
In all, Minnick has raised more than $1.9 million in this election cycle and has about $1.1 million in cash on hand. Foster told IdahoReporter.com that the numbers are indicative of his candidate's broad support base. "We're very pleased by the support Walt continues to receive. I think it's a good indication of how pleased people are with his hard work for Idaho, and their hope that he will continue to run a very strong campaign," said Foster.
But would the Democrat's dollars have been higher had Republican Vaughn Ward, the man originally thought to be the biggest threat to Minnick's re-election bid, won the May Republican primary? Foster doesn't think so. "Walt's supporters are solid, no matter whom his opponent might be. Walt's business sense and bipartisan approach attract support from across the spectrum, and that support has done nothing but grow since he took office," said Foster. The man who won the Republican primary and will face Minnick, Raul Labrador, inspired some new donors to the campaign, believes Foster, who told IdahoReporter.com that 47 percent of all donors to Minnick in the latest reporting period were new donors. Foster said that he believes that some of the new money is coming from former Ward supporters who felted jilted over Labrador’s victory and are now crossing over to support the Democrat.
The Labrador campaign has yet to release its fundraising numbers for the same quarter and the campaign's spokesperson, China Veldhouse Gum, has not commented on Minnick's numbers. At his last check-in with the FEC on May 5, Labrador reported having raised $173,712, though that number included a total of $90,000 in personal loans from Labrador to his campaign.
