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Republicans Have Fundraising Edge in House Campaigns But Democrats Holding Their Own


July 19, 210

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

TEXAS HOUSE FUNDRAISING
Top 20 Incumbents in Key General Election Races
Contributions/Loans & Expenditures & Cash
January 1, 2009 - July 1, 2010
1

Dan Branch - HD 108 (R)
Total Fundraising: $951,788
Total Expenditures: $383,153
Cash on Hand: $1,183,300
2

Patrick Rose - HD 45 (D)
Total Fundraising: $637,991
Total Expenditures: $355,665
Cash on Hand: $571,300

3

Chuck Hopson - HD 66 (R)
Total Fundraising: $430,308
Total Expenditures: $469,460
Cash on Hand: $81,556
4

Ellen Cohen - HD 134 (D)
Total Fundraising: $412,770
Total Expenditures: $364,383
Cash on Hand: $265,535
5

Linda Harper-Brown - HD 105 (R)
Total Fundraising: $392,223
Total Expenditures: $288,471
Cash on Hand: $92,195
6

Dwayne Bohac - HD 138 (R)
Total Fundraising: $389,110
Total Expenditures: $181,412
Cash on Hand: $228,453
7

Carol Kent - HD 102 (D)
Total Fundraising: $379,396
Total Expenditures: $146,107
Cash on Hand: $253,006

8

Chris Turner - HD 96 (D)
Total Fundraising: $379,387
Total Expenditures: $175,185
Cash on Hand: $321,116
9

Pete Gallego - HD 74 (D)
Total Fundraising: $341,692
Total Expenditures: $288,036
Cash on Hand: $59,173
10

Will Hartnett - HD 114 (R)
Total Fundraising: $286,875
Total Expenditures: $49,947
Cash on Hand: $304,254
11

Veronica Gonzales - HD 41 (D)
Total Fundraising: $261,603
Total Expenditures: $112,310
Cash on Hand: $195,349
12

Abel Herrero - HD 34 (D)
Total Fundraising: $219,395
Total Expenditures: $106,383
Cash on Hand: $156,146
13

Kristi Thibaut - HD 133 (D)
Total Fundraising: $215,284
Total Expenditures: $162,801
Cash on Hand: $87,261
14

Senfronia Thompson - HD 141 (D)
Total Fundraising: $202,896
Total Expenditures: $171,648
Cash on Hand: $172,774
15

Paula Pierson - HD 93 (D)
Total Fundraising: $199,330
Total Expenditures: $94,058
Cash on Hand: $100,554
16

Diana Maldonado - HD 52 (D)
Total Fundraising: $198,212
Total Expenditures: $76,185
Cash on Hand: $152,618
17

Valinda Bolton - HD 47 (D)
Total Fundraising: $191,983
Total Expenditures: $72,625
Cash on Hand: $119,864
18

Donna Howard - HD 48 (D)
Total Fundraising: $177,513
Total Expenditures: $62,716
Cash on Hand: $212,974
19

Rob Orr - HD 58 (R)
Total Fundraising: $159,797
Total Expenditures: $178,748
Cash on Hand: $196,085
20

Robert Miklos - HD 101 (D)
Total Fundraising: $177,513
Total Expenditures: $157,679
Cash on Hand: $92,445

TEXAS HOUSE FUNDRAISING
Top 20 Challengers and Candidates for Open Seats
Contributions/Loans & Expenditures & Cash
January 1, 2009 - July 1, 2010
1

Dee Margo - HD 78 (R)
Total Fundraising: $342,810
Total Expenditures: $207,488
Cash on Hand: $105,995
2

Larry Gonzales - HD 52 (R)
Total Fundraising: $333,696
Total Expenditures: $278,817
Cash on Hand: $21,576
3

Paul Workman - HD 47 (R)
Total Fundraising: $322,619
Total Expenditures: $256,754
Cash on Hand: $66,923
4

Walter "Four" Price - HD 87 (R)
Total Fundraising: $308,487
Total Expenditures: $294,202
Cash on Hand: $37,409
5

Dan Huberty - HD 127 (R)
Total Fundraising: $286,597
Total Expenditures: $296,462
Cash on Hand: $4,394
6

Stefani Carter - HD 102 (R)
Total Fundraising: $249,909
Total Expenditures: $162,801
Cash on Hand: $87,261
7

Loretta Haldenwang - HD 105 (D)
Total Fundraising: $235,369
Total Expenditures: $140,726
Cash on Hand: $56,260
8

Kendra Camerena - HD 138 (D)
Total Fundraising: $211,888
Total Expenditures: $60,659
Cash on Hand: $120,531
9

Erwin Cain- HD 3 (R)
Total Fundraising: $190,513
Total Expenditures: $118,608
Cash on Hand: $94,664
10

Lyle Larson - HD 122 (R)
Total Fundraising: $187,399
Total Expenditures: $63,730
Cash on Hand: $124,628
11

Cindy Burkett - HD 101 (R)
Total Fundraising: $186,869
Total Expenditures: $99,602
Cash on Hand: $59,511
12

Jim Murphy - HD 133 (R)
Total Fundraising: $180,111
Total Expenditures: $89,176
Cash on Hand: $124,916
13

Sarah Davis - HD 134 (R)
Total Fundraising: $176,380
Total Expenditures: $83,139
Cash on Hand: $103,072
14

Jason Isaac - HD 45 (R)
Total Fundraising: $169,510
Total Expenditures: $20,074
Cash on Hand: $144,441
15

John Frullo - HD 84 (R)
Total Fundraising: $147,132
Total Expenditures: $110,859
Cash on Hand: $29,356
16

Masarrat Ali - HD 122 (D)
Total Fundraising: $126,669
Total Expenditures: $54,809
Cash on Hand: $101,477
17

Connie Scott - HD 34 (R)
Total Fundraising: $116,843
Total Expenditures: $117,593
Cash on Hand: $75,502
18

John Wellik - HD 114 (D)
Total Fundraising: $111,952
Total Expenditures: $52,345
Cash on Hand: $50,360
19

Pati Jacobs - HD 17 (D)
Total Fundraising: $109,289
Total Expenditures: $30,733
Cash on Hand: $62,501
20

Lanham Lyne - HD 69 (R)
Total Fundraising: $101,331
Total Expenditures: $30,513
Cash on Hand: $82,235
The candidates that the major political parties have nominated in Texas House battles in 2010 have raised more than $14 million combined during the current election cycle with the GOP's nominees accounting for almost 53 percent of the total.

With Democrats in striking distance of a House majority and Republicans hoping to widen the four-seat advantage they have now, a Capitol Inside analysis found that the GOP's nominees for the lower chamber in the general election have generated more than $7.4 million collectively compared to nearly $6.7 million that their Democratic foes have raised during the past 18 months.

The fundraising figures are based on reports that have been filed with the Texas Ethics Commission by the major party contenders in 54 of the 57 House races that feature fights between Republicans and Democrats this fall. The latest campaign finance statements that were due late last week hadn't been posted by the close of business on Monday for the remaining three House races.

Fourteen of the 20 incumbents who've raised the most money for House battles in the face of major party opposition are Democrats. But 15 of the 20 House hopefuls who've rounded up the most cash for races for seats that incumbents are defending or not seeking again are Republicans.

Eight Republicans and six Democratic candidates for the lower chamber have topped the $300,000 mark in fundraising while two House contenders from each major party have stuffed their war chests with more than $400,000 with less that four months remaining before the November 2 election.

The four most successful fundraisers since the start of 2009 are all sitting House members: State Reps. Dan Branch of Dallas, Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs, Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville and Ellen Cohen of Houston. But Hopson, who joined the GOP last fall after winning five terms as a Democrat, is the only member of that elite group who needed some of the money he's raised for a contested primary battle.

Branch, a Republican who's one of Speaker Joe Straus' best friends and top lieutenants, raised almost $952,000 that he'd initially thought he might be spending on a bid for attorney general this fall before opting to run for a fifth House term instead. Rose, a Democrat who's been one of the House's most prolific fundraisers since he entered the chamber in 2003 when Branch was a freshman as well, raised $638,000 during the past 18 months while Hopson and Cohen corralled $430,000 and $413,000 respectively in the same period of time.

State Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, an Irving Republican who's the Democrats' number one target on the House battlefield, is next on the money list after fueling her war chest with $392,000 for a fight this fall with Democratic challenger Loretta Haldenwang. With contributions of $235,000 so far in her first House bid, Haldenwang has raised more campaign cash than any of the other Democrats who are taking aim at Republican incumbents or competing for seats that are open.

But six Republicans - Dee Margo of El Paso, Larry Gonzales of Round Rock, Paul Workman of Austin, Walter "Four" Price of Amarillo, Dan Huberty of Kingwood and Stefani Carter of Dallas - have all raised more money than Haldenwang in their bids as challengers or candidates for open House seats.

Margo, who's dueling Democratic State Rep. Joe Moody in a rematch, has generated $343,000 for the race this year while Gonzales had amassed a war chest with $333,000 by the end of last month. Margo and Gonzales both faced multiple primary foes. While Margo won the March primary outright, Gonzales was forced into an April runoff before he was assured of being the GOP nominee in the race for the seat that Democratic State Rep. Diana Maldonado of Round Rock wrestled from the Republicans in 2008 and is defending for the first time this year.

Workman has raised more money during the past 18 months than the Democrat he's attempting to unseat, State Rep. Valinda Bolton of Austin. While Workman and Bolton have generated $323,000 and $191,000 respectively for the House race this year, the incumbent has twice as much in the bank heading into the fall competition as a result of the fact that the challenger had to spent a substantial amount on a GOP primary that he finally won in a runoff.

Carter, who had to spend some of the $250,000 she's raised on a primary contest, ranks sixth on the fundraising list for House candidates who aren't incumbents. But the Democrat she's challenging, State Rep. Carol Kent of Dallas, had more cash on hand on June 30 than the entire amount that Carter has raised with a surplus of $252,000 in her campaign account. Kent, who's seeking re-election for the first time in a district that Republicans held until her election two years ago, has generated $380,000. That's nine dollars more than State Rep. Chris Turner of Arlington - another Democrat who's high on the GOP's target list in a bid for a seat that belonged to it before he claimed it in 2008. Turner is fighting for a second term in a rematch with former House Republican Bill Zedler, who's raised less than one dollar for every five the incumbent has rounded up for his first re-election campaign.

One of the most expensive House races so far pits Republican State Rep. Dwayne Bohac of Houston against Democratic challenger Kendra Yarbrough Camarena, who's father served in the House before losing in 2002 to the incumbent she's hoping to unseat this fall. Bohac and Camarena have raised $389,000 and $212,000 respectively for their battle this year.