Connecticut’s first serious intra-party challenge to a congressional incumbent produced a burst of fundraising claims Monday, with challenger Luke Bronin reporting $1.18 million to Congressman John B. Larson’s $800,000 in the quarter ending Sept. 30.
Neither campaign released full reports that would disclose sources of their funds, the extent of their early spending or cash on hand. Those are due Oct. 15 in public filings to the Federal Election Commission.
But Bronin, who opened a challenge on July 30 for the Democratic nomination, used the release of the partial numbers to deliver a dig over “corporate PACs” at Larson, whose voting record has not drawn criticism yet from any of his challengers.
“We know that we’re never going to raise as much as a 27-year incumbent who gets most of his money from corporate PACs, but these first two months show that we’re going to have what we need to compete and make a powerful case for change,” Bronin said in a statement at 9 a.m. Monday
The Larson campaign responded at 2 p.m. with a statement ignoring the gibe over political action committees and publicizing that he had raised “over $1 million this cycle,” a reference to all fundraising since Jan. 1. The campaign clarified that its quarterly number was $800,000.
Larson’s previous two quarterly filings show he had raised $249,345 through June 30, including $200,055 from committees. Bronin, who showed himself to be a prodigious fundraiser in two mayoral campaigns, has said he will not raise money from corporate political action committees.
“I am grateful for the outpouring of support from across the First District,” Larson said in his statement. “At a time when President Trump and his allies are attacking our democracy, targeting immigrant families, and labeling me an agitator for standing up to them, this campaign is powered by people who know what’s at stake. They know we cannot allow Trump to dismantle our Constitution, privatize Social Security, or roll back the rights we have fought for over generations.”
Larson and Bronin are two of five Democrats in the race. Ruth Fortune, a Hartford school board member, filed papers July 3 and was quickly followed by Councilman Jack Perry of Southington. By the end of August, the field included Bronin and state Rep. Jillian Gilchrest of West Hartford. Fortune, Perry and Gilchrest did not release fundraising numbers.
In the 5th District, which has offered Connecticut’s most competitive congressional races in recent cycles, Republican challenger George Logan spent $2.9 million last year in his second unsuccessful challenge to Democrat Jahana Hayes, who spent $3.8 million.
With the U.S. House closely divided, the Hayes-Logan fight also attracted outside partisan money unlikely to be present in a Democratic primary: $1.4 million in support of Hayes and $6421,540 in support of Logan. No Republican has been elected from the 1st since the 1950s.