2nd Quarter Fundraising News For Mitchell and Hayworth in AZ CD 5

In what has to be one of the most explosive developments in the Arizona political landscape this cycle, Harry Mitchell racked up over $565K in contributions to his campaign this quarter, bringing his total for the cycle to over $779K. This total is extraordinary in two respects: it far outstrips the fundraising of any other Congressional candidate in Arizona for the quarter, including the open CD 8 race and even the incumbent J.D. Hayworth; and it happened in a race considered ‘leaning Republican’, indicating that a political earthquake could be brewing (an impression reinforced by fundraising news in CD 1 by Ellen Simon, as I will relate in a separate post).

J.D. Hayworth managed to raise $525K this quarter, so he is not far off Harry’s pace, but there is a curious juxtoposition in the fundraising patterns of two rivals. Hayworth raised about $225K from individual donors and almost $300K from PACs. Mitchell’s fundraising is the antithesis: he raised over $430K from individuals and just $135K from PACs. As such, Mitchell’s fundraising is all the more impressive as it is an expression of real popular support, not leadership PACs’ desperation to hold on to their majority. By outripping Hayworth by over $200K in individual donations, Mitchell demonstrated a commanding and extraordinary advantage over an incumbent of the ruling party, and a real mandate for change. Of course, the test is whether voters dollars will translate into votes, but under our current system of campaign finance, it almost always does.

I doubt that Mitchell will actually catch Hayworth’s fundraising before the election, however. Hayworth still has a commanding lead with over $1.05 million cash in hand to Mitchell’s somewhat unsettling $666K in the bank. Closing a $400K gap doesn’t seem likely, but regardless, Mitchell has the ammunition he needs to mount a credible insurgent campaign. If you consider that relative unknown Elizableth Rogers collected nearly 40% of the vote in 2004 with just $5K, Hayworth should be sweating bullets at a well-known Democrat with real money in the bank aimed at bringing angry independents and non-voting Dems to the polls.