The final FEC deadline of the general election has passed.

The race between GOP nominee Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic nominee Steve Santarsiero will be the most competitive congressional contest on November 8th.

The third fundraising quarter spanned July 1st to September 30th, 2016.

Top-Line Numbers

Once again, Fitzpatrick outraised Santarsiero.

The Republican brought in $746,658 against the Democrat’s $649,814 haul. Fitzpatrick also outspent Santarsiero $903,704 to $813,518.

Nonetheless, Fitzpatrick holds a sizable cash on hand advantage $533,394 to $227,728.

A few notes before we dive in further. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party gave $5,500 in refunds to the Santarsiero camp and they paid $5,800 of their $10,000 debt to Rittenhouse Political Partners. Also, the Fitzpatrick team has about $6,061 in debts.

Contributions

Fitzpatrick received a significant amount of cash, $258,110, from PACs over the past three months.

Among those groups were:

PricewaterhouseCoopers Political Action Committee $5,000; NECAPAC $3,500; NEMPAC $4,000; Truck PAC $1,000; American Medical Association PAC $5,000; Asplundh Tree Expert Company PAC $5,000; Express Scripts PAC $2,500; NADAPAC $5,000; Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers PAC $2,500; Suntrust PAC Corporate Federal PAC $2,000; Independence Blue Cross PAC $1,000; Sheet Metal & Air-Conditioning Contractors PAC $4,000; Asian American Hotel Owners Association PAC $3,000; National Association of Realtors Political Action Committee $5,000; Koch Industries, Inc. PAC $5,000; Aetna Inc. Political Action Committee $5,000; BUILD PAC $5,000; Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America Inc PAC $5,000; KPMG Partners/Principals & Employees PAC $5,000; Republican Jewish Coalition-Political Action Committee $2,500 and Rothman Institute PAC $5,000.

The NRCC also contributed $5,000 to their candidate.

A plethora of Congressmen and Congresswomen also pitched in for the younger brother of retiring incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick such as: Bill Flores $1,000; Bradley Byrne $1,000; Kevin Cramer $500; Tom Emmer $1,000; Jason Smith $1,500; Luke Messer $1,000; Steve Scalise $2,000; Doug Lamalfa $1,000; Lynn Westmoreland $1,000; Austin Scott $500; Brett Guthrie $1,000; Reid Ribble $1,000; Trey Gowdy $1,000; Sean Duffy $1,000; Kevin McCarthy $2,000; Richard Hudson $1,000; Tom Marino $500, Buddy Carter $1,000; Keith Rothfus $1,000; Chuck Fleischmann $1,000; Mike Fitzpatrick $2,000 and Pat Meehan $1,500.

The Democratic nominee secured $135,700 in contributions from PACs this quarter.

Among the most significant donors were:

Americans for Responsible Solutions $2,500; APWU COPA $5,000; BRIDGE PAC $5,000; End Citizens United PAC $5,000; Independence Blue Cross PAC $1,000; Ironworkers Political Action League Multi Candidate Committee $5,000; League of Conservation Voters Action Fund $2,000; Local 13000 Communications Workers of America $5,000; NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC $2,500; PAC to the Future $5,000; PASNAP PAC $4,000; Planned Parenthood Action Fund Inc PAC $4,000; Teamsters Union Local 115 Political Action Fund $2,500; Committee for a Livable Future $5,000; United Food and Commercial Workers 1776 PAC $5,000;

Santarsiero also received a helping hand from several Democratic members of Congress including: Anna Eshoo $1,000; Barbara Lee $1,000; Mike Capuano $1,000; Lloyd Doggett $1,000; Eliot Engel $1,000; Jim Clyburn $2,000; Dennis Heck $1,000; Hakeem Jeffries $1,000; Sander Levin $1,000; Zoe Lofgren $1,000; Mark Takano $1,000; Jerrold Nadler $1,000; Nancy Pelosi $2,000; Paul Tonko $1,000; Pete Aguilar $1,000; Richard Neal $1,000; Ted Deutch $2,000 and Val Demings $1,000.

Expenses

Most of the money spent by campaigns usually goes to staff and routine bills for office supplies. We like to take a look, however, at the where the rest of the cash goes.

Over half of Fitzpatrick’s expenditures went to TV commercials from BrabenderCox. Another $30,324.37 was spent on print ads for the Bucks County Courier-Times and $5,000 for radio ads on WBCB.

They also spent $18,000 on polling from Public Opinion Strategies LLC and $6,000 with Communications Concepts.

The GOP candidate turned to several different consulting firms like The Theodore Company ($34,762.67), Campaign Financial Services ($14,354.85), LN Consulting LLC ($12,545.45) and Samsar Consulting LLC ($7,910).

$9,842.52 went to FLS Connect LLC for Tele-Town Hall Services.

Meanwhile, Santarsiero spent most of his cash, $632,075, on TV advertising done by AL Media.

A chunk also went to various types of consulting. Digital consultants 4Degress Inc and Blue State Digital got $11,064.20 and $1,050 respectively. $3,750 was spent on compliance consultants Blue Wave Political Partners. $10,041.99 went towards fundraising consulting from Molly Allen Associates and an additional $5,800 to Rittenhouse Political Partners.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner conducted $36,000 worth of polling while $1,000 went towards precinct targeting done by the National Committee for an Effective Congress. Access to NGP Van costs $2,100.

Finally, $3,000 went to The Pivot Group for printing expenses.