Incumbent U.S. Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, continues to lead the money race in Iowa’s 2020 U.S. Senate race followed by Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield who posted a strong fundraising quarter to close out 2019.
The Federal Election Commission has not posted Q4 numbers online, but Ernst and Greenfield have announced their fundraising in advance.
On January 9, 2020, Greenfield announced that she outraised Ernst in Q4, but Ernst reports that she, in reality, raised more money.
Looking back, at the end of Q3, Ernst had the largest war chest having raised over $4.2 million and she spent $2.9 million. Ernst transferred over $2.1 million additional funds from other authorized committees. She ended Q3 with over $3.9 million in the bank.
Greenfield, who announced her candidacy on June 3 announced at the end of Q3, that she raised $1.6 million in contributions. Her campaign disbursed $501,577. She reported over $1.2 million cash on hand at the end of Q3.
Eddie Mauro, another candidate seeking the Democratic nomination in the race, comes in third, but his grassroots fundraising up through Q3 is dismal. He remains competitive because he can self-fund. He only raised $138,559 through Q3, but has dropped $1.1 million of his own money into his campaign which is a good thing since he spend more money – $167,027 – than he raised. He went into Q4 with just over $1 million in the bank.
However, Greenfield outraised Ernst in Q3 by over $300,000 raising a little more than $1 million compared to Ernst raising $700,000.
So looking to the Q4 fundraising that Ernst and Greenfield announced. Greenfield reported she raised more than $1.6 million to close out 2019. She reported that 94 percent of all her contributions were $100 or less. Greenfield reported contributions from nearly 3,000 Iowans in all 99 counties. Her campaign ended 2019 with more than $2.1 million on hand.
Ernst announced that she raised almost $1.7 million in Q4. She 85 percent of her contributions were first time donors. Ernst said 97 percent of her donations were $100 or less and she reports contributions from 4,000 Iowans from all 99 counties. She ended 2019 with almost $4.9 million in the bank, more than double than what any of the candidates seeking the Democratic nomination has.
Should Greenfield win the Democratic nomination, and I believe that she will, her campaign will be well-funded. She will still likely trail Ernst in fundraising.