A more competitive district calls for more fundraising.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler) filed his first campaign finance report in his fourth term in Congress.

Kelly’s campaign raised slightly over $460,000 from the beginning of 2019 to the end of March, while spending $100,000 during this time period.

Over $240,000 of his funds raised in the first three months of the year come from a wide variety of joint fundraising committees.

Kelly ended the 1st quarter with $400,000 cash on hand.

His most recent bid for Congress was much different his several previous runs due to the redrawing of the state’s Congressional boundaries. Kelly’s closest contest since winning his Congressional in the old boundaries was his first victory in 2010 when he won by 11 points. In November 2018, he defeated Democrat Ron DiNicola by just under 4.5 points.

President Donald Trump carried Kelly’s previous district by over 25 points, but with the new boundaries he slightly won by over 20 points.

Kelly outraised his opponent in the previous election cycle. The GOP incumbent raised $2.5M from the beginning of 2017 to the end of 2018, while DiNicola’s campaign brought in just over $1.75M during his bid.

Kelly’s 2018 bid proved to be much more expensive than his previous three victories. His campaign spent $3.3M during the last election cycle. He entered 2017 with $740,000 cash on hand and ended 2018 with just under $40,000.

At this point in his previous term, Kelly raised twice the amount in the 1st quarter after a victory, but trails in cash on hand in comparison to April 2017. Kelly raised $180,000 from the beginning of 2017 to the end of March 2017, while his cash on hand total at this point in time was $835,000. He was unopposed in the 2016 election.

The Democratic opponent for Kelly in 2020 remains unknown, but the opposing party is placing special attention to flip his seat. The DCCC selected Kelly as one of their three targets in the state to flip, along with Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) and Scott Perry (R-York).