SC’s Rep. Joe Cunningham brings in more cash than top GOP opponent
Relying on individual donations, U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham surpassed his fundraising numbers from his successful 2018 campaign in the final quarter of 2019, according to the Charleston Democrat’s campaign.
A top target of Republicans, Cunningham raked in $900,000 during the last three months of 2019, bringing his total fundraising up to more than $2.8 million. During his 2018 run for the state’s coastal 1st District congressional seat, he raised about $2.36 million.
That means Cunningham, who snatched his congressional seat away from Republicans for the first time in 40 years, ended the year with $2.1 million on hand, according to the campaign.
Cunningham’s team featured the fact that the congressman did not take money from Political Action Committees, instead bringing in more than 7,000 individual contributions last quarter.
“The politically easy decision would be to accept money from special interests and PACs, but Joe wasn’t sent to Congress to do what was easy — he was sent to Congress to do what’s best for the people back home,” campaign manager Allie Watters said. “Joe has spent his first year in Congress putting the Lowcountry first and reaching across the aisle to solve problems, which is why voters are working so hard to keep Joe in office.”
In previous fundraising quarters, the incumbent representative far outpaced his Republican opponents, ending the third quarter with nearly $886,000 more than the next close candidate, GOP S.C. Rep. Nancy Mace.
During the last few months of 2019, Mace raked in about $375,000 from a total of about 1,080 contributions, according to a statement from her campaign. The Republican has raised a total of about $892,000.
Mace topped her numbers from the previous quarter by about $17,000.
“I am enormously humbled by the support our campaign is receiving. I cannot believe we are so close to hitting the million dollar mark in a Republican primary, and in such a short period of time,” Mace said. “This says to me that South Carolinians are ready for new leadership because they have been let down repeatedly by the Democrat incumbent in his first year in office.”
A campaign spokesperson from Republican Katherine Landing’s campaign could not immediately be reached Friday, and the Federal Elections Commission had not updated its website with fundraising totals from other campaigns.
Cunningham recently experienced a trying few months. After remaining silent on impeachment throughout the process, the embattled Democrat announced days before the vote that he would be voting in favor of both articles — obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.
The move came days after the S.C. Republican party commissioned a poll on impeachment in Cunningham’s district. The poll showed that voters said they would be less likely to support the Democrat if he voted “yes” on impeachment.
Hours after the vote, attacks from conservative groups began to roll in. Dark money group American Action Network launched an ad in his district claiming that Cunningham ignored his constituents.
The state Republican party also began building infrastructure to win back the district and aid the Republican nominee after the primary election. In November, the S.C. GOP announced it had hired staff to help defeat Cunningham in the coastal district.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 10:37 AM.
