WASHINGTON — There are less than three weeks to go in the high-stakes showdown between Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Republican businessman Eric Hovde. Polls show the race is tight, but new campaign finance reports show Baldwin is winning the battle for campaign cash.
“She's just doing significantly better fundraising from human beings than he is,” said Sarah Bryner, the director of research and strategy for Open Secrets, a non-partisan group that tracks money in politics. “Hovde is certainly making up some of that difference with regards to the super PACs that are spending in the race. He actually has the edge on her in that context.”
Federal Election Commission filings show Baldwin and Hovde each raised about $11 million from late July through September. But only $4.2 million of Hovde’s haul came from donations. The rest, $7 million, was a loan he made to his campaign. Since entering the race, he’s now provided $20 million dollars to his candidacy.
“The last thing a candidate wants, is to wake up on Wednesday morning having lost the race and then say to themselves, ‘Darn. Why didn't I, fill in the blank: Why didn't I go for broke? Why didn't I throw in the kitchen sink? Why didn't I put more money in? Otherwise, I would have won,’” said Mordecai Lee, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Baldwin’s fundraising in the past two months was more than double the amount she raised in the same time period six years ago when she last ran for Senate.
“Certainly, the amount of money that Democrats in Wisconsin can raise, and in particular Senator Baldwin, is a real indication either of political inflation from the last time she ran six years ago to this more abundant amount of funding that's available for Democrats,” Lee said.
And while money matters for campaigns, Bryner said the TV and social media ads the cash will buy may not change many more minds at this point in the race.
“Ultimately, it matters who the candidates are talking to on the ground and who they're able to connect with in the last few weeks of the race,” she said.
Both candidates have been spending time on the campaign trail this week, ahead of their first and only debate Friday evening.