By Marc Korman.
Campaign finance reports for the US House of Representatives have been released for the third quarter, covering July 1st to September 30th. The reports for the 1st, 4th, and 8th Congressional Districts of Maryland help set the stage for the 2010 election year.
1st Congressional District
Maryland’s most endangered incumbent is Congressman Frank Kratovil. His seat is the only one in Maryland that will receive national attention in 2010.
Kratovil raised $222,257 in the third quarter and has $691,205 cash on hand. State Senator Andy Harris was Kratovil’s opponent in 2008 and they will likely face off again in 2010. Harris raised $179,306 last quarter and has $313,055 cash on hand. In the last election, Kratovil expended almost $2 million and Harris around $3 million, though Harris had to beat an incumbent to win the primary. Their rematch will be expensive and bitter. Kratovil is off to a good start with his fundraising.
4th Congressional District
Congresswoman Donna Edwards raised only $39,191 and has just $55,742 cash on hand. She has the smallest balance of any Maryland incumbent and her fundraising has declined each quarter of 2009. She has also been spending actively, with recorded expenditures of over $227,000 during the campaign cycle so far.
The 4th Congressional District will not be going Republican any time soon, but Edwards may have a primary challenge. As Adam has highlighted, District 14 Delegate Herman Taylor may be running. Delegate Taylor does not have a federal account. In January, his state account had over $19,000 in it. But according to FEC regulations, federal campaign committees cannot accept funds from a nonfederal campaign account.
Delegate Taylor or other potential challengers should not be fooled by Congresswoman Edwards’ slow fundraising. Her donors may have been fatigued from her efforts in 2006 and 2008, but she has raised her national profile among progressives while in office and will be able to raise substantial funds if necessary. She raised almost $1.5 million for her successful 2008 campaigns.
8th Congressional District
Congressman Chris Van Hollen raised $170,926 in the third quarter, giving him $2.9 million cash on hand. Van Hollen will likely have just a token Republican opponent next year. Most of Van Hollen’s funds will go towards fellow Democrats that he is charged with protecting as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In the 2008 campaign cycle, Van Hollen donated $715,000 to the DCCC and Maryland Democratic Party.
The other House districts in Maryland are pretty quiet. Republican Roscoe Bartlett’s potential challenger, Andrew Duck, raised under $5,000 so far this year. Maryland’s other four Democratic House members all have ample cash on hand of over half a million dollars each.
Update: One of MPW’s readers alerted me to Casey Clark, another Democratic candidate in District 6 seeking to challenge Congressman Bartlett. Mr. Clark has raised $69,529 so far this year including $18,900 in the most recent fundraising quarter.