With the August primary election deadline only a week away, candidates for Washington’s hotly-contested Third Congressional District are making their final fundraising pushes, as one of U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s challengers received a windfall from a largely anonymous political action committee.
The deadline to submit pre-primary reports to the Federal Elections Commission was July 21. That pre-primary period covered contributions received from July 1 through July 13.
According to those reports, Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, still had the most cash on hand and total contributions. As of the end of the pre-primary filing period, Herrera Beutler raised about $638,000 since the start of April, putting her total raised this election cycle at roughly $3.5 million. She raised about $2.9 million by the same time in the 2020 election cycle.
As of the latest filing, Herrera Beutler had just shy of $1 million cash on hand for her campaign. The campaign has spent about $1.6 million since April.
Herrera Beutler’s campaign has received about $1.2 million in total from political committees, including political action committees (PACs), according to FEC filings. Since April, she has received $287,000 from those committees.
Herrera Beutler’s PAC money has been a target of fellow Republican challenger Joe Kent, who has raised the second highest amount. In a field featuring five Republicans, Kent’s roughly $2.3 million raised puts him at the top of the pack of challengers from the party, with about $353,000 cash on hand, according to latest FEC filings.
Kent raised $401,000 since April and spent about $1.1 million in the same timeframe. Compared to Herrera Beutler, he has only received about $71,000 from political committees including PACs, including roughly $22,000 since April.
Kent’s fundraising is only slightly behind what Herrera Beutler’s top challenger in 2020’s primary had at the same time. Democrat Carolyn Long had about $2.4 million raised in the pre-primary FEC report in that race.
Kent sounded the alarm on a fellow Republican challenger when a recently-formed PAC contributed nearly $724,000 to her campaign. On July 14, Kent’s campaign reported Heidi St. John received the funding from Conservatives for a Stronger America, a PAC that filed July 13 and is based in Massachusetts, according to FEC filings.
In a campaign communication, Kent said the contribution was from a “dark money SuperPAC” to support a “spoiler candidate.” This year, Herrera Beutler has received an unprecedented amount of opposition from her own Republican Party, which could affect who moves forward to the two-candidate general election in November.
Following the announcement of the funds, St. John’s campaign told Oregon Public Broadcasting they were pleasantly surprised by the contribution. Coordination between independent contributors and candidate campaigns is forbidden.
“We do know one thing: they are willing to promote that Heidi St. John is the most pro-life, pro-second amendment, pro-TRUTH and most courageous Republican candidate in the race,” campaign spokesperson Lisa D’Andrea said in a text message to OPB.
The windfall was not included in the pre-primary report, according to the FEC website. That information reports she raised $203,000 since April, and spent $291,000 prior to the pre-primary filing deadline.
The $724,000 notwithstanding, St. John raised a total of about $1 million in the race, with $194,000 cash on hand.
Two other Republicans are seeking to unseat Herrera Beutler, though they had no pre-primary filings available by press deadline.
Leslie French has raised $71,000, though he had made a $70,000 loan to his campaign. He has raised $150 since April, spent about $6,400 in that time period, and has about $42,000 cash on hand.
Current Washington State Rep. Vicki Kraft raised about $22,000 since April and spent $20,000, according to FEC filings. She has raised about $48,000 in total this election cycle and has $6,300 cash on hand.
The incumbent’s most prominent challenger outside of her own party has raised more than French and Kraft. As of the pre-primary filing deadline, Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez raised about $241,000 this cycle, with $82,000 cash on hand.
Gluesenkamp Perez raised about $174,000 since April, and spent about $150,000 in the same time period.
Three other candidates formally in the primary race have no campaign receipts to speak of. Democrat Davy Ray, who has filed with the FEC, still reports no campaign contributions. Independent candidate Chris Byrd and American Solidarity Party candidate Oliver Black have not filed with the FEC, according to the commission’s website.
