| Jack McDonald is making more waves in the Washington whisper crowd.
McDonald, who has filed an exploratory committee to take on Republican Mike McCaul, is one of ten non-incumbents with over $100,000 in the bank.
According to CQ Politics, only ten challengers (Republican and Democrats) have raised over $100,000 and only 2 have raised more than Jack McDonald.
Those two include 1 Republican: William Russell, Republican, Pennsylvania's 12th District ($403,000) taking on Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha in a rematch of a 2008 campaign that Murtha won by 16 percentage points. The other is Suzan DelBene, Democrat, Washington's 8th District ($315,000). DelBene, a technology executive, is gearing up to oppose three-term Republican Rep. Dave Reichert.
McDonald barely missed the top spot for Democrats.
Jack McDonald, Democrat, Texas' 10th District ($312,000). McDonald, who also has a background as a technology executive, is waging a campaign against three-term Republican Rep. Michael McCaul that technically is still in the "exploratory" phase. But his first-quarter take makes it highly likely that he will make his bid official.
McDonald's first-quarter report shows that he put in just $1,000 of his own money and raised everything else from individual donors - many of whom gave the $4,800 maximum amount allowed under federal law, of which half can be used for a primary election and half for the general election.
Interestingly, McDonald is 33% of the entire list of Democrats on the list and 66% of those are in the top 3 spots. McDonald is showing he has an ability to raise some serious money and is making a strong case for the Texas 10th to be a targeted race for both Texans and Washington D.C. decision makers.
Update: Something from the Congressional Quarterly article to highlight:
The $315,000 figure includes $209,000 of DelBene's own money, in the form of loans and contributions.
McDonald hasn't done that. He has raised nearly every cent. This makes Jack McDonald the best fundraiser among Democratic challengers and the second best among all challengers. |
