McCamley raises $140,000 during second quarter

Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley, who is attempting to unseat U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce next year, raised just under $140,000 in his first three months in the race.

That’s an impressive total, and it’s more than any previous Democratic challenger to the GOP representative was able to raise in the first fundraising quarter he was in the race.

McCamley announced Sunday evening in a news release that he raised $139,600 during the fundraising quarter that ended June 30. He entered the race on April 4, three days after the quarter began.

McCamley’s campaign spent $6,300 during the period, leaving him with $133,300 on hand. He had 216 contributors, the news release stated, but he didn’t release their names.

“The money this campaign has raised in less than one quarter demonstrates that there is a hunger for change in our representation in Washington,” McCamley said. “… We know that we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re off to a good start and we’ve shown that we will run a professional and extremely efficient campaign.”

The only other Democrat in the race at this point, Al Kissling, hasn’t yet filed his second-quarter report. He raised a little less than $1,300 during the first quarter of the year and had expenses of more than $3,300. He also had a campaign debt to himself of $8,200.

Pearce also hasn’t filed his second-quarter report or released fundraising numbers, but he made a big push for cash this quarter in an attempt to discourage the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising arm of House Democrats, from getting involved in the race. During the first quarter, he raised more than $114,000 and had expenses of just under $50,000. Pearce ended the first quarter with $196,000 on hand.

According to the site Swing State Project, McCamley was the 20th highest fundraiser among Democratic House candidates through the site ActBlue during the second quarter, indicating that his is one campaign to watch. He raised $13,930 through the Web site during the quarter.

It will be interesting to see who contributed to McCamley’s campaign, and how his fundraising compares to that of Kissling and Pearce, once all candidates file reports with the Federal Election Commission, which they must do by Sunday.