FEC Releases Congressional Fundraising Summary
| For Immediate Release September 9, 2002 |
Contact: | Bob Biersack Ron Harris Ian Stirton Kelly Huff |
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| FEC RELEASES CONGRESSIONAL FUNDRAISING SUMMARY | ||||||||||||||||||
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| WASHINGTON -- Congressional campaigns raised a total of $604.6 million
from January 1, 2001 through June 30, 2002, a decline of 7% from the record levels reached
in the 2000 campaign, according to a compilation by the Federal Election Commission. The Commission found that 1,746 Senate and House candidates spent $357.7 million in the first 18 months of the campaign (down 11% from the same period in 1999-2000), and reported cash on hand of $373.2 million (up 4%) at the end of the second quarter. The financial decline is confined to the Senate, where candidates in this cycle’s 34 Senate races reported receipts of $202.2 million, disbursements of $109.8 million, and cash balances of $110 million. This represents a 22% decline in fundraising and a 35% decline in spending from the 2000 cycle. Comparisons across election cycles are particularly difficult for Senate races however, because there are more small population states with Senate elections in 2002, and because a few campaigns can significantly affect totals. For example, through June of 2000 there were three Senate campaigns (Corzine, ($35.7 million), Giuliani, ($23.3 million), and Clinton ($18.6 million)) with receipts more than twice the largest 2002 campaign (Dole, $8.2 million). Recent Senate elections have included a fundraising technique designed to help provide funds to candidates and also to national and state parties. Joint fundraising committees are often created to focus on Senate campaigns and raise both hard money for candidates and parties along with soft money for national and state parties. Hard money from joint fundraising transferred to Senate candidates has totaled $3.8 million to Republicans and $2.6 million to Democrats thus far in 2002. Soft money transferred from joint committees to national party committees totaled $6.5 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $1.2 million to the National Republican Senatorial Committee through June 30, 2002. The table on pages 22-26 lists joint fundraising committees, transfers, and soft money transferred to national committees organized by the candidate who authorized the joint fundraising committee. Fundraising in House campaigns increased slightly during the first 18 months of the 2002 campaign. Current campaigns raised $402.4 million (up 2% from 2000 levels) and spent $247.9 million (6% above previous cycle totals). They reported a cash balance of $263.1 million as of June 30. The increases are confined to incumbent and open seat candidates from both parties, while challengers’ financial activity is behind 2000 levels. Tables appearing on p. 6 confirm these changes, with median receipts for House incumbents up substantially for both parties while challengers median receipts are lower than in 2000. Moreover, the number of House challengers who reported receipts of at least $50,000 through the first half of the election year dropped from 206 in 2000 to 154 in 2002, the smallest number in the last six election cycles. Contributions from individuals totaled $353.1 million and continue to be the largest source of receipts for Congressional candidates, representing 58.4% of all fundraising as of June 30. Contributions from PACs and other committees totaled $168.5 million or 27.9% while candidates themselves contributed or loaned a total of $54.6 million that was 9% of all receipts. Tables attached to this release offer summary data for Senate and House candidates by political party, as well as by candidate status (incumbent, challenger, or open seat). Also included are rankings of Senate and House candidates for the following categories: receipts, individual contributions, PAC and other committee contributions, disbursements, cash-on-hand, and debts owed. Six-year financial summaries of Senate candidates for 2002, as well as current cycle financial summaries for each House campaign are also attached. Financial information on House special elections is listed separately. This release and the data contained in it are also available on the FEC’s web site at http://www.fec.gov under News Releases or Campaign Finance Reports and Data. Tables The tables in [HTML] format can be read using your web browser. The [EXCEL] files are workbooks that can be read using Excel from Microsoft.
Footnotes 1. Figures in the first two tables and the detailed listings of candidates cover from January 1, 2001, or whenever the campaign registered during the year, through June 30, 2002 or the last report filed by the campaign as indicated. 2. Net receipt and net disbursement figures are total receipts and total disbursements, as reported by the campaigns, minus any money transferred between committees of the same campaign. 3. Columns entitled "contrib from other cmtes" are moneys contributed to campaigns by PACs and other committees as reported by the campaigns. Other committees include primarily committees of other candidates. 4. On the Senate listings, the column titled "candidate support" includes contributions by the candidate as well as loans made or guaranteed by the candidate. The column titled "trans from other auth" includes moneys transferred from House committees of candidates for the Senate, as well as proceeds from joint fundraising activity among several candidates or committees. Contributions from individuals and PACs made through these joint fundraising efforts are NOT included in the "individual contributions" or "other cmte contributions" columns. 5. Open seat races are those in which the incumbent did not seek reelection. 6. Detailed listings of candidates include all those House candidates who reported receipts before June 30, 2002. 7. Some House members who are or were running for the Senate in 2002 changed their former House campaign committees into their Senate campaign committees. Financial activity related solely to their Senate campaigns cannot be isolated. (See Chambliss [GA], Thune [SD], and Warren [NC]). 8. Party abbreviations in the listing of House campaigns are: blockquote
9. Several candidates report significant debts at least some of which were incurred in previous election cycles. These include; blockquoteJames Humphreys (WV) 10. Some candidates have reported significant loan repayments to the candidate themselves. Some of these repayments may have been for loans from earlier election cycles;
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