Katie McGinty had a bit of a late start compared to her opponent Joe Sestak. She intends to make up the financial gap, though, as quickly as possible.
The ex-Chief of Staff to Governor Wolf released her top-line third quarter fundraising numbers today. McGinty brought in $1,015,000 from July 1st to September 30th. She currently has approx. $900,000 cash on hand.
Her campaign also stated they have received cash from nearly 2,900 donors. 2,300 gave $200 or less.
“With over 2,900 donors, I am proud of the strong grassroots support our campaign has achieved in less than two months,” McGinty stated. “Hard-working Pennsylvanians are looking for someone who will stand up and get things done for them in Washington. We are off to a strong start because voters know that I am someone who knows how to bring people together to create jobs, make college and health care more affordable, and preserve Social Security and Medicare.”
McGinty is running against former Congressman Joe Sestak and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman for the Democratic nomination. Incumbent GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is running for re-election.
Fetterman raised $170,000 in the 17 days since he declared, Sestak and Toomey have yet to unveil their totals.
Loading ...
29 Responses
Given that fewer people know enough about McGinty, her relative performance against Toomey is on par or better than Sestak’s. She will have the time and money to introduce herself to voters with ads like Wolf did and close the gap.
The real gap in this race is probably about 5 points once voters know the final candidates (regardless of which Dem wins the primary). Then, May to November is closing the gap and presidential coattails to beat Toomey.
The polls need to start including Fetterman. If he polls near 30% as even more unknown than McGinty, then it’s clear that 30% is the starting point for any Dem (which makes sense).
In the Quinn-Poll you referenced:
59% of people polled didn’t know enough about Sestak
while
72% of people polled didn’t know enough about McGinty
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/2016-presidential-swing-state-polls/release-detail?ReleaseID=2288
I believe in open primaries. It is the right way. Just because someone campaigns for six years for an office before the primary doesn’t mean it’s their’s because they where there first. If people enter a primary supported by well known individuals doesn’t mean anything either. All candidates have to campaign and fundraise. They do it to the best of their abilities and let the people decide the outcome of the race. I fully understand money is a huge component of elections but it is still on the candidates to get people to contribute. I wish we had a system like Canada where every office gets a specified amount of campaign money and they use it in the way they see fit and the election happens. The way things are done here everyone needs to stop complaining and support the candidate of their choice and let the people decide the primary.
To Disgusted Democrat: I would add that Sestak has been campaigning for 7 years. Based on the those latest poll numbers it would seem that the more people know about Sestak, the less they like him. He’s lost over 35% of his support compared to the last election he lost.
You’re completely wasting your time just like Sestak does when he is out walking around the state for no apparent reason.
To Disgusted Democrat: It appears that you’ll need to work even harder for Sestak. He just polled 34 to 49 against Toomey. http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/256282-poll-ohio-senate-race-only-toss-up-in-swing-states
That’s ham sandwich territory. McGinty did even worse. I have to give the state party credit for knowing that Sestak is unelectable, but their choice in McGinty is disastrous. She polled 31 to 51 against Toomey.
McGinty and Sestak can’t win… it’s impossible. I don’t know if Fetterman can win, but he’s the ONLY chance.
Regardless, I’m truly incredulous at to how someone can vote for a person who thinks walking across that state is a good use of time, and then after he’s done walking across the state, he does it some more. There is a reason the party couldn’t back him.
Rendell and his puppet Wolf wants McGinty so I am betting the rank and file of the party will be bullied into endorsing her, just like they were bullied into accepting Marcel “Groan” (as in uggghhh) as the State Chair. But endorsements mean nothing these days and McGinty will lose.
And Fetterman? Looks like a pig but oh, my he can run some little dying town of like 2000 people somewhere out west. Oh yes, that certainly qualifies this joke to be a US Senator! Not. If by some miracle he did win, they wouldn’t even let him on the Senate floor unless he learns how to dress like a civilized adult.
I’m voting Sestak, and working hard for him too. If Sestak loses the Primary, congratulations Toomey on your next six years. And thank you Rendell and Wolf and Groen because YOU are more interested in being party bosses than winning elections.
McGinty represents the worst
In our politics. Bought and paid for by the corrupt PA political machine. She has been, is and will continue to be a political loser. No accomplishments and she represents the very worse in the Democratic Party. Better Sestak or even Toomey- Mc Ginty like Pelosi represents a vileness and vulgarity in our politics we should not be willing to accept.
Observer #2
Sestak spent today walking 18 miles to Scranton today, with a fundraising appeal for $1/mile.
What’s next? A car wash?
Sestak would Rendell’s or any round orifice to pull in the kind of money McGinty is.
Sestak has no personal integrity, especially when it comes to money. Ask his underpaid staff, who he is cheating out of employment taxes.
If Fetterman stays in, Sestak comes in dead last in the primary.
How long after the April primary will we see Sestak’s PA house on the market?
She can get all the money the corporations can come up with—she is still out of her league and a failed political figure—a puppet. She can’t beat Sestak, let alone Toomey. Way to go Rendell, and certain insiders who would rather see Toomey win than have Democrat Joe Sestak win—-yes, Joe probably won’t kiss your corporate ring!
Wolf hasn’t demonstrated any strong arm tactics beyond ousting Chairman Burn.
Most of Sestak’s supporters aren’t connected/elected, and Sestak doesn’t even live here.
Fetterman’s supporters are grassroots and beyond the reach of Rendell.
I don’t think this changes much. McGinty was going to get all the big union endorsements anyway.
Well I guess Rendell and Wolf have come to the rescue. Bail out their vapid cheerleader of the candidate. Katie has zero substance in a dubious background because of her ties with Rendell dirty energy groups – none of which care about the people of our state or it’s environment, just money money money.
She is part of the club now and no one dare go against her or face the wrath of Rendell and now Wolf’s strong arm tactics. The Rendell Mafia continues and it’s a sad day for Democrats in Pennsylvania.
When Katie announced, I suggested that she might be able to “lap” Sestak in about two fundraising quarters, and she certainly seems on track to do it.
What is unclear is how much of this money is earmarked for Primary vs General election for all the candidates. Sestak’s got at least $250K for General that he can’t touch in a Primary.
Maybe PoliticsPA can shed some light on that and ask the candidates how much of their cash on hand is for Primary vs General?
PhillyPolitico-
Fetterman’s doing well considering his late start (two weeks of fundraising) and grassroots/anti-establishment campaign.
Fetterman got 2,111 contributions in two weeks, and McGinty got “over 2900” in two months (but it’s got to be less than 3,000 or they would have said over 3,000)
So, like Bernie, Fetterman has a solid base of small donors. Can he turn this spigot into a flood of cash and compete with McGinty? That’s going to be tough.
How does McGinty spend her cash? Attacking Sestak? Toomey? Fetterman? or in positive ads?
Clearly McGinty has the advantages of money, organization, party support and even “gender” in the current line-up with Planned Parenthood in the cross-hairs. I really don’t see Sestak or Fetterman dressing in pink.
If I had to make a prediction today (without a real poll that would be meaningless anyway this far out), I’d guess the outcome would be McGinty wins primary, followed by Fetterman, with Sestak dead last.
Fetterman steals following from Sestak:
1) anti-establishment
2) male voters
3) charisma
4) authenticity (which Sestak has been unsuccessfully trying to fake)
5) Regional (steals from both, but hurts Sestak more, as Katie has support from Allegheny political machine and Fetterman lives in Allegheny)
Also, Fetterman has a real campaign manager (ran DeBlasio campaigns and was Obama’s State Director in 2012) and listens to his campaign manager.
H3 —
H# – it looks like you have a secret admirer – as I know you would never type this:
HaHaHa says:
October 7, 2015 at 12:52 pm
The only thing in her head is ambition. She’s going to get steamrolled by Toomey if she makes it that far.
PhillyP – Don’t think I saw anyone here say Fetterman was doing better. My comment was that I’m more impressed by him, since his money was a) raised without backing or connections to big-money donors and b) raised in just over two weeks.
Next quarter will be easier to compare, and I expect to see McGinty widen the margin even more.
I was referring only to the 2016 senate race. Jonathan Tamari of the Phialdelphia Inquirer put it best:
“Katie McGinty pulled in $1 million in 2 months, topping the best quarter so far from Sestak” http://t.co/KqTOAbv802
-Jonathan Tamari, Philly Inquirer
FYI, I’m a McGinty supporter myself, and happy to see her numbers so far, but according to the FEC Sestak raised $1.18 in his October report in 2006. That’s over a million for a quarter, for a House seat. He hasn’t been able to do anything like that since, but that is still very impressive.
Unfortunately, this discussion only illustrates a sad commentary on American democracy: Money = Votes.
Look, I understand the importance of small donors. But if McGinty out-raised Fetterman on an order of 5:1, there’s no way to frame it as Fetterman doing better. If you think Fetterman raising $170k is more impressive than McGinty raising $1 mil, you’re out of your mind.
You can like Sestak or Fetterman as much as you want, but there’s no other way to frame this raise number from McGinty other than “Damn Impressive.”
Probably down 10 or 15 to 1 against Toomey now!
Sestak blew his budget on sneakers
So more than half her money came from big-money donors. No surprise there, from the Corporate Wing of the Dem party – she is the Annointed Employee for the banksters.
The only thing in her head is ambition. She’s going to get steamrolled by Toomey if she makes it that far.
Who knows..with that kind of money she might break double digits this time around.
Yes, not the whole quarter, my bad. McGinty had two months vs. Fetterman’s 17 days. I’m way more impressed with Fetterman at this point.
Montco Dem- McGinty was only active during 2 months of the quarter, August and September. She did not fundraise in July. She only announced her candidacy on August 4th. The $1 million is from just 2 months. Pretty impressive!
Money from small donors was just slightly more than Fetterman (2,300 McGinty vs. 2,012 Fetterman), though McGinty was active for the whole quarter vs. just a few weeks for Fetterman. So the lion’s share of her huge result came from the big-money backers, no surprise there.
Can’t wait to see what Sestak did. I’m predicting he finishes third, which would signal a campaign in very big trouble.
“Katie McGinty pulled in $1 million in 2 months, topping the best quarter so far from Sestak” http://t.co/KqTOAbv802
-Jonathan Tamari, Philly Inquirer
That’s awesome!
1) McGinty announced in August. So that’s only from two months of fundraising.
2) McGinty’s numbers are better than Sestak has EVER done!