U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Heather Wilson announced today that she raised more than $300,000 in the fundraising quarter that ended March 31.
Wilson raised $303,394 from more than 1,100 donors since entering the race on March 7, according to a news release. Her campaign claimed that 87 percent of donations came from New Mexicans, 70 percent were for $100 or less, and that it raised more than $32,000 online.
“New Mexicans are tired of government in Washington spending money we don’t have,” Wilson said. “I am honored that so many New Mexicans have been willing to support my candidacy this early and help me bring a new quality of leadership to the United States Senate.”
The release said Wilson ended the reporting period with $281,965.80 on hand. Her campaign did not release a copy of her finance report with the news release.
Wilson is the first candidate in the race to replace Jeff Bingaman in the Senate to release fundraising numbers. Finance reports for fundraising from Jan. 1 to March 31 are due by Friday.
Some of the potential big-name Senate candidates – such as Democrat Hector Balderas and Republican John Sanchez – haven’t formally entered the race or formed exploratory committees, so they won’t have any finances to report.
Democrat Martin Heinrich, on the other hand, will file a finance report, though during the fundraising period he was still officially a candidate seeking re-election to his U.S. House seat, not the Senate seat. But he can transfer the money he raised during that period to his Senate campaign.