Democratic congressional challenger Erin Bilbray’s first quarter of fundraising is a mass of contradictions amid a flood of old Vegas money, thanks to her lifetime in Southern Nevada and her former representative father’s friends and political associates, as well as a large chunk from the Station Casino/UFC family, which is fighting the No. 1 Democratic special interest, the Culinary union.
On the one hand, Bilbray picked the low-hanging political fruit, as you might expect – family (those Kohns below are in-laws), unions, House leaders, current and former Nevada pols, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On the other, many of the old-time Las Vegans who gave did not max out, so she has room to grow within that donor base.
On the one hand, she raised slightly more in the quarter as Rep. Joe Heck, who took in just under $250,000 while she raised $253,000. On the other hand, she burned $60,000 of it and started behind by $650,000, so she has a 4-to-1 cash-on-hand disadvantage to the congressman (he has about $820,000 on hand).
On the one hand, she took in most of her PAC money from unions, but got not one contribution from the Culinary. Instead, Lorenzo Fertitta and his wife maxed out, as did UFC boss Dana White and the UFC parent, Zuffa, Inc., gave $2,500. So $18,100 of her total came from Culinary enemies.
Those contributions occurred because, her campaign says, the Fertittas and White are lifelong friends. But a Culinary spokeswoman told me the union was “disappointed” in the contributions. The real question is how active the union will be in 2014, with its objections to Obamacare implementation and with no presidential race to energize it.
Bilbray, as any other candidate might, hyped her first fundraising quarter as record-setting, asserting she raised more than any other Nevada challenger during a thrid quarter in an off-year. (How's that for qualifications?) She appears to be right based on the FEC records.
But it's hardly that simple -- she began raising money in the third quarter in an off year, so she should do robustly. And she did. But a 4-to-1 deficit is not close to what she needs -- Bilbray must raise at least half of what Heck does to have a chance, I'd say. And considering the seat is a national focus for both parties, that just might happen.
The Bilbray money details and some highlighted donors:
On the one hand, Bilbray picked the low-hanging political fruit, as you might expect – family (those Kohns below are in-laws), unions, House leaders, current and former Nevada pols, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. On the other, many of the old-time Las Vegans who gave did not max out, so she has room to grow within that donor base.
On the one hand, she raised slightly more in the quarter as Rep. Joe Heck, who took in just under $250,000 while she raised $253,000. On the other hand, she burned $60,000 of it and started behind by $650,000, so she has a 4-to-1 cash-on-hand disadvantage to the congressman (he has about $820,000 on hand).
On the one hand, she took in most of her PAC money from unions, but got not one contribution from the Culinary. Instead, Lorenzo Fertitta and his wife maxed out, as did UFC boss Dana White and the UFC parent, Zuffa, Inc., gave $2,500. So $18,100 of her total came from Culinary enemies.
Those contributions occurred because, her campaign says, the Fertittas and White are lifelong friends. But a Culinary spokeswoman told me the union was “disappointed” in the contributions. The real question is how active the union will be in 2014, with its objections to Obamacare implementation and with no presidential race to energize it.
Bilbray, as any other candidate might, hyped her first fundraising quarter as record-setting, asserting she raised more than any other Nevada challenger during a thrid quarter in an off-year. (How's that for qualifications?) She appears to be right based on the FEC records.
But it's hardly that simple -- she began raising money in the third quarter in an off year, so she should do robustly. And she did. But a 4-to-1 deficit is not close to what she needs -- Bilbray must raise at least half of what Heck does to have a chance, I'd say. And considering the seat is a national focus for both parties, that just might happen.
The Bilbray money details and some highlighted donors:
Raised: $253,000
Spent: $58,000
COH: $195,000
Shelley Berkley $500
Jim Bilbray $1,300
Robert Bilbray $1,000
Bill Boyd $500
Richard Bryan $500
EMILY’s List $500
Cedric Crear $250
Frankie Sue Del Papa $250
Lorenzo, Teresa Fertitta $10,400
Mark Fine $500
Janie Gale $1,000
Tom Gallagher $1,000
David Goldwater $370
Danny Greenspun $1,000
John Hunt $2,000
Megan Jones $500
Halina Jones-Vergiels $1,500
Todd Marshall $2,000
Chris Kaempfer $500
Jesse Kohn $5,200
Jennifer Lazovich $250
Paul Masto $250
John O’Reilly $1,000
Romy Silver-Kohn $5,200
Billy Vassiliadis $1,000
Dana White $5,200
AFSCME $5,000
AFT $5,000
Tom Collins $1,000
Jim Clyburn $2,000
Ironworkers $5,000
IBEW $5,000
Nancy Pelosi $2,000
Off the Sidelines (Gillibrand) $5,000
Searchlight (Reid) $5,000
Op Engineers $10,000
Dina Titus $1,000
UFCW $5,000
Zuffa $2,500
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