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The NH GOP Senate candidates have reported their fundraising numbers for the first quarter, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from these “B-Tier” candidates. Here’s what you need to know about the Republican field’s Q1 fundraising results:
This quarter, Senator Hassan raised more than 3.4 times the total of the entire Republican field.
Chuck Morse — the top fundraiser on the Republican side brought in “just 17% of what Senator Hassan raised” in the first quarter.
Don Bolduc’s fundraising dropped by nearly a third since last quarter.
There’s already speculation from NH Today’s Chris Ryan that with Town Manager Kevin Smith’s average donation being “just under $1,000 per person, we might want to see a little bit more there in regard to whether there was a loan or something of that nature that Smith gave to the campaign.”
All of the candidates are struggling to attract grassroots donors. Chuck Morse’s average donation was $938 and Kevin Smith’s was $911 — and each had just a few hundred donors.
Republicans’ weak fundraising comes just days after top Donald Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski said that any Republican candidate raising $750,000 or $1 million in the first quarter might not receive Trump’s coveted endorsement and is “just not competitive.” Corky Messner also slammed the Republican candidates last week, saying that if any of them are struggling to raise money, they should drop out of the race entirely — noting that he had millions of dollars in cash on hand at this point in his own Senate campaign. With these dismal fundraising figures, it's no surprise that a new candidate has entered the race and that Corey Lewandowski is actively recruiting others to get in.