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2016: Toomey Maintains Wide Lead over Sestak

Senator Toomey & Admiral Sestak
Senator Toomey & Admiral Sestak

It’s incredibly early, but still, incumbent GOP Senator Pat Toomey has to be happy with how his fundraising has gone so far.

Sen. Toomey currently holds a solid fundraising advantage over former Congressman, and his 2010 Democratic Senate opponent, Joe Sestak.

Sestak, though, is still raking in the cash years ahead of Election Day 2016. At this moment, former Rep. Sestak is the only candidate so far to sort-of-formally throw his hat into the ring although Attorney General Kathleen Kane has also expressed interest in the race. There have also been rumors that Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro is eyeing a run.

In 2014’s first fiscal quarter, January 1 to March 31, Sen. Toomey, benefitting from the recognition befitting an incumbent, raised $715,470. Sestak, meanwhile, brought in $221,302. While the Senator clearly outpaced his challenger, he raised about $50K less than last quarter while Sestak brought in roughly $70,000 more.

Toomey also received far more money from PAC’s than his rival, getting $143,650 from Political Action Committees compared to the $5,000 Sestak pulled in.

Among the Senator’s PAC contributors were Erie Insurance PAC which gave $5,000 along with $2,500 each from the PACs of Liberty Mutual and Citigroup. Curiously for a Republican, Toomey also received $4,800 from the IBEW Local 98. Additionally, the incumbent was the recipient of $1,000 from KOCHPAC, an organization under the umbrella of uber-political donors Charles and David Koch.

The Republican also got significant help from his colleagues. Freshman South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott gave $10,000 through his Tomorrow is Meaningful PAC while Toomey’s fellow Finance Committee member Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas contributed $5,000 from his PAC, Preserving America’s Traditions.

Sestak, on the other hand, received $4,000 from his old colleague and former Congressman Brian Baird of Washington.

The Senator also vastly outspent Sestak, $449,240 to $39,970. Among Toomey’s expenditures, the most interesting were the $48,807 he spent on direct mail by HSP Direct, the $25,413 rental fee for a fundraising list from the NOVA List Company, and finally the $3,500 given to Push Digital for online ads.

While Toomey could afford to spend such amounts on advertising, Sestak’s opportunities were more limited. Most of the latter’s spending went to the salaries of a few staff members and to pay for the basic services necessary to keep even the most embryonic of campaigns afloat. The former Congressman did, however, spend $8,377 to the Kennedy Printing Company, which works on direct mail and gave $1,200 to TVEyes, for the purpose of monitoring TV.

Ultimately, though, as things currently stand Sen. Toomey has $4,311,412 cash on hand while former Rep. Sestak has $1,207,090.

 

8 Responses

  1. I hope a good Republican conservative takes on this sell out Toomey! He is a RINO and a gun control advocate! He and Joe Manchin deserve to loose their seats

  2. Though I’m upset of a few votes from Toomey, I’ll surely be glad to back him in 2016! How is Kane even considered a candidate after the dirt she’s been in since elected? Oh wait.. Because she’s a Democrat. Typical!

  3. Has Toomey done one positive thing since being elected? I’ll answer. NO! Vote for Sestak.

  4. This proves that Toomey has the backing of the state liberals. Toomey needs to go as he is nothing but a RINO.

  5. Jim-
    Sestak’s latest fundraising email/salvo is weak beyond words.

    Sestak seems completely oblivious to the irony of the subject line: Is there service above oneself?

    Pretty much anyone with a 3-digit I.Q. knows that Sestak is one of the most self-serving frauds on the PA political scene in decades.

    If you follow the emails link to Sestak’s comparison chart with Toomey, he starts off with that he was born in Pennsylvania and Toomey was born in Rhode Island. Pretty weak tea.

    Sestak conveniently leaves out that he moved to (and still lives in) Virginia with his wife and daughter.

    I agree that Toomey is probably one of Sestak’s biggest supporters for the Primary.

  6. Hopefully Sestak, if he runs, will not survive the primary. Sestak’s biggest supporter is Toomey who knows full well he will once again beat him. This is an opportunity to knock off Toomey, the darling of the Tea Party–let’s not blow it.

  7. Sestak’s also still paying his brother $84.87 a month as “payroll” (and presumably his health insurance and payroll taxes). The service fees to Paychex (over $200) for payroll disbursement are on par with what Joe’s actually paying for his brother’s salary. Seems very stranger, especially considering how notoriously cheap Sestak is.

    Meanwhile his actual full-time staffers are making a combined $5,500 thousand a month, and apparently paying their own payroll taxes, because he’s listed them as “consultants”.
    Joe’s listed only $33/month for payroll taxes, which is less than 1% of his labor costs.

    As for how much Sestak made, according to his fundraising emails, he met his target for the quarter. So, his target seems to be raising less than 1/3 of what Toomey raises.

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