Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet starts the race against his Republican rival with more than $6 million in the bank, a huge cash advantage exacerbated by Darryl Glenn’s poor fundraising to date.
The Bennet campaign will announce Monday that it raised $2.7 million in the second quarter, boosting the Denver lawmaker’s cash-on-hand to $6.1 million as of July 1.
The fundraising total is $1 million more than in the pre-primary report, but he continued to spend big dollars. His cash-on-hand June 8 stood at $5.7 million.
Glenn starts July essentially broke. His campaign reported June 8 that it only raised $106,510 since April 1 and had just $50,198 on hand with $16,500 in debt, according to federal campaign finance filings.
In the final days before the June 28 GOP primary, however, he received a $50,300 boost from major donors of $1,000 or more, thanks to support from political allies of Sen. Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin. Only $6,400 of that money came from Colorado.
Either way, Glenn likely exhausted his resources to challenge Bennet. The full second quarter report is due Friday. Glenn’s campaign declined to discuss his upcoming fundraising numbers.
Glenn, a 13-year local elected official in El Paso County, has repeatedly dismissed his low fundraising totals as unimportant. But with the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the party’s main fundraising arm for Senate races — unwilling to publicly support him, Glenn on his own, probably to the tune of $4 million at least. And he will need more help from outside groups, such as the Senate Conservatives Fund, that spent big to get him elected in the primary.
Bennet campaign spokeswoman Alyssa Roberts said the incumbentap total shows the campaign “is in a strong position heading into the summer, and we’re confident Michael will win in November because the choice is clear.”