By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com

Pat Toomey raised $2.3 million in the first fundraising quarter of the year, his campaign said Monday, giving the almost certain Republican nominee about $4 million on hand.

The haul was his best of the campaign, topping the $1.7 million in the final three months of 2009. The campaign’s press release said he also raised more than incumbent Senators Harry Reid and John McCain.

“I am very appreciative of the deluge of support I have received for my candidacy,” Toomey said in a statement.  “As I travel across the state, I meet more and more Pennsylvanians who want to join our campaign and help bring true change and fiscal sanity to Washington.  If I am elected to the U.S. Senate, I intend to do just that.”

Toomey’s Democratic rivals, incumbent Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, have not yet released their fundraising totals from this year.

Specter had about $8.7 million on hand to start the year, although he raised only $1.2 million last quarter and actually had less cash than the previous quarter after providing $600,000 in refunds to former contributors.

Sestak, whose fundraising has also slowed down, has about $5.1 million on hand.