Democratic 2nd Congressional District candidate Harry Teague filed notice today that he has loaned his campaign another $475,000, bringing the total he’s contributed to his run to almost $700,000 and triggering the so-called Millionaires’ Amendment that triples contribution limits in the primary race.
The notice Teague filed today indicates that he loaned his campaign $125,000 a week ago and another $350,000 today. He had previously loaned his campaign a little less than $210,000, and has now loaned his campaign a total of $684,572.92.
Teague has been rapidly spending money on television ads for a couple of weeks and sent out a pricey, full-page, glossy mailer this weekend. The only publicly released polling of the Democratic primary showed his opponent Bill McCamley with a 21-point lead over Teague in mid-March. The poll, conducted for McCamley’s campaign, had him ahead 43 percent to 22 percent with a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
The Millionaires’ Amendment is triggered when a candidate gives or loans more than $350,000 to his own campaign. For McCamley, that triples contribution limits from $2,300 to $6,900, which allows him to go back to all previous donors and ask for more.
“We obviously know that he’s a millionaire oilman and that this was a possibility,” McCamley said. “This election should be about more than how much money you have. It should be about where you stand on the issues, and we’re going to keep talking about the issues. The government shouldn’t be for the millionaires, of the millionaires and by the millionaires.”
Teague’s campaign spokesman said he would get back to me with comment.
McCamley began April with $235,944 on hand, according to his FEC report, while Teague began it with $336,864 on hand, according to his report.
The only other congressional candidate in the state to trigger the Millionaires’ Amendment is Third Congressional District Democratic candidate Don Wiviott, who has loaned his campaign $890,000.