Three candidates trail only a sharply contested Illinois race
The three candidates for Colorado’s hotly contested Democratic nomination in the second congressional district combined to raise more money in the third quarter of 2007 than the combined totals of all but one other primary in the U.S.
The three candidates — Joan Fitz-Gerald, Jared Polis and Will Shafroth — combined to raise $965,889 in the third quarter. The largest total primary sum was raised by Illinois Republican Rep. Mark Steven Kirk and his two Democratic opponents Jay Footlik and Dan Seals, at just over $1 million. The third highest total was raised by Kirsten Gillibrand of the 20th district of New York, who took in $627,578.
The combined third quarter fundraising of Democrat Niki Tsongas ($1,182,550) and Republican Jim Ogonowski ($31,335) of Massachusetts district 5 was higher than the combined totals of any other race, but they were contesting a special election to replace Democratic Rep. Martin Meehan (D.-Mass.), who left Congress to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Candidates in only three other districts in the U.S. have accumulated larger war chests for their primaries than the CD-2 combined total. In addition to the Illinois threesome, which has collected $2.8 million, Democrat Charles Rangel in New York’s 15th has piled up $2.6 million in the campaign cycle that began six months ago, and Gillibrand has accumulated $2.1 million.
