WurfWhile

John Laesch raised $45,059 in the third quarter for the 14th Congressional District Democratic primary - much of which was raised online via ActBlue, where John dominates the Democratic race with a total of $33,602 raised. Laesch raised $57,900 for the cycle when his short second quarter is included. By comparison, last cycle at this time John had raised $6,403.

John Laesch’s race this time, however, is much different than last primary cycle’s race against Ruben Zamora, who in his end of year filing for 2005 had $4,535 in contributions (Ruben did not file an October 2005 quarterly report). While Laesch’s total numbers have improved by almost $52,000 compared to 2005, he is now in a four-way race with two competitors who have more money than him. One of those candidates is Bill Foster, who raised almost four times Laesch’s total contributions in just this quarter - before Bill doubled that number through a personal donation to his campaign.

Jotham Stein, the first Democrat to announce his candidacy in the 14th District race, has almost certainly also raised more money than John Laesch. By Jotham’s second quarter report he had raised a total of $44,040, although most of it, like John Laesch’s, was burned through in operating expenses and debt. The Stein campaign has not yet filed its third quarter report.

In a physically large congressional district with expensive media money will count a lot. The John Laesch campaign has to ramp up fundraising dramatically this quarter if they’re going to have a shot at winning the primary. We should know the status of Jotham Stein’s campaign finances soon.