Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Bollier’s fundraising exploded in the second quarter, reporting a $3.7 million haul that the campaign says establishes a new fundraising record for Kansas.
It is the third extraordinarily strong quarter that the Bollier campaign has put together, another sign that Democrats are energized about their chances of capturing a Senate seat has been in Republican hands since the 1930s.
The Bollier campaign reports that it is now sitting on about $4 million in cash at the end of the second-quarter fundraising period.
To date, the campaign says the amount Bollier raised in the third quarter is the largest reported single-quarter fundraising of any candidate — federal, state or local — in Kansas’ history.
“I am thrilled to see the support and growing momentum around our race from so many people across our great state,” Bollier said in a statement.
“It’s clear that our goal — to bring reason and decency back to Washington, and to ensure Kansans are represented by someone who will fight for strong public schools, access to affordable health care, and equality for all — is resonating with our communities,” she said.
Indeed, the money that Bollier raised outdistances anything that was brought in during the last two competitive U.S. Senate races in Kansas – the 2010 Republican primary between Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt and the 2014 general election contest between Pat Roberts and Greg Orman.
During the 2010 primary between Moran and Tiahrt, the most either raised in a quarter that cycle was about $500,000. In the second quarter of 2010 leading up to the primary, Moran raised $540,975 to $450,957 for Tiahrt.
Moran raised about $347,000 in the first quarter of 2010 and about $403,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009. He raised about $521,000 in the third quarter.
In 2014, Roberts reported raising about $1.6 million in the third quarter of 2014 leading up to the general election against Greg Orman.
Orman reported bringing in about $1.7 million, including $200,000 loans, in the third quarter of 2014 as the general election approached.
The fundraising numbers for the Republican Senate primary candidates have not been released yet, but Bollier has already been piling up more cash in recent quarters.
Bollier reported raising $2.35 million in the first quarter alone, topping the $1 million that she raised at the end of 2019 after jumping into the race last October.
In the first quarter, Bollier raised more than most of the Republican field, including Congressman Roger Marshall, former Secretary of State Kris Kobach, former Johnson County Commissioner David Lindstrom and Senate President Susan Wagle, who has since left the race. Together, they raised about $800,000 in the first quarter.
The field only topped Bollier if you added in businessman Bob Hamilton, who laid out $2 million of his own money in the Republican primary.
