If Rep. Colleen Hanabusa does take on Sen. Brian Schatz for the late Daniel Inouye’s U.S. Senate seat, she’s already nearly $1 million behind.
Although early campaign fundraising is no guarantee of victory, Hanabusa’s campaign finance reports filed late Monday night showed she’d raised about $230,000 during the first quarter of this year. Hanabusa is said to be still trying to decide whether to run for Schatz’ seat or take on Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
Schatz has declined to release his fundraising report, which was due April 15 and covers the period from Jan. 1 through March 31. Senators file their reports with the U.S. Senate, which processes the paperwork then turns it over to the Federal Election Commission which eventually posts it online. Sen. Mazie Hirono‘s report also has not been made public yet.
In a press release last week, Schatz said he’d raised $1.1 million. The Schatz campaign on Monday did not return emails or phone calls asking for details.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, meanwhile, raked in about $85,000 to add to the healthy bottom line she had left from her easy 2012 victory over Kawika Crowley.
U.S. House members are required to file their reports electronically with the FEC. So Hanabusa’s and Gabbard’s reports became public on Monday.
Hanabusa, who battled Republican Charles Djou to secure her District 1 congressional seat in November, finished the 2012 campaign with about $54,000 cash in the bank. The latest quarterly filing shows, after expenditures, she’s boosted the campaign treasury to about $248,000 cash on hand.
About $173,000 came from individual donors, and a quick scroll through the report suggests most of that money is coming from Hawaii residents, many of them well-known business and civic leaders.
Now in her second term, Hanabusa also capitalized on her congressional experience. The report shows her raising about $54,500 from 31 political action committees, mostly unions, lobbyists and defense contractors. Among the largest:
— International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Wasington, D.C., $5,000
— American Federation of Government Employees, Washington, D.C., $2,500
— Boilermakers-Blacksmiths LEAP, Kansas, $1,000
— Lockheed Martin Employees’ PAC, Arlington, VA., $1,000
— Solarcity PAC, Washington, D.C., $1,000
— General Dynamics Corporation PAC, Falls Church, Va., $1,000
— Marriott International PAC, Bethesda, Md., $2,500
— American Association for Justice PAC, Washington, D.C., $1,000
— Van Ness Feldman, LLP PAC, Washington, D.C., $1,000
— National Association of Realtors PAC, Chicago, IL, $1,000
— Amgen Inc. PAC, Washington, D.C., $1,000
— International Federation of Proefessional and Technical Engineers, Washington, D.C., $1,000
— K&L Gates LLP PAC, Washington, D.C., $1,000
— International Longshore & Warehouse Union, San Francisco, Calif., $1,000
— BAE Systems USA PAC, Arlington, Va., $1,000
— Matson Federal Election Committee, San Francisco, Calif., $1,000
Gabbard Relying On Mainland Contributors
Gabbard reported about $320,000 in the bank at the end of March, when the reporting period ended.
She raised about $85,000 and spent about $75,000 this period, including paying back $25,000 toward a primary campaign loan, the report shows. She spent thousands of dollars on fundraising expenses and even passed at least $3,000 on to congressional candidates in other states and $5,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Gabbard collected about as much from individuals — $45,000 — as PACs — $38,000. A quick scroll through her contributions report suggests most of the donors are from the mainland, rather than Hawaii.
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