McGinty wins quarter, but Sestak has $1.4M edge in cash race
WASHINGTON - Joe Sestak has a $1.4 million cash advantage over Katie McGinty as the two Democrats head into the final months of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate primary, new campaign filings show.
WASHINGTON - Joe Sestak has a $1.4 million cash advantage over Katie McGinty as the two Democrats head into the final months of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate primary, new campaign filings show.
Both candidates have outpaced Braddock Mayor John Fetterman, who has struggled to turn his outsider appeal into campaign cash. As of Dec. 31, Fetterman had just $131,672 on hand.
Sestak, a former congressman making his second bid for the Senate seat, raised $373,840 in the final quarter of 2015, his report showed. But he had $2.6 million left, giving him the edge despite McGinty's support from top Democrats in Washington and Pennsylvania.
McGinty, Gov. Wolf's former chief of staff, had $1.2 million on hand.
Her campaign argued that the reports suggest fund-raising momentum, noting that the $978,801 she collected last quarter nearly tripled Sestak's take in the same stretch.
But she also spent $690,446, much of it on digital ads, consultants and mailers, the reports show.
Sestak entered the race earlier and had a fund-raising head start.
Whoever wins the April 26 Democratic primary faces an expensive campaign against a well-funded incumbent, Republican Pat Toomey, in a race that could decide control of the Senate.
Toomey on Wednesday endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio in the GOP presidential race, choosing sides in a brawl that has split the Republican base and its establishment, and that could have a major impact on his own reelection bid.
The Florida senator has an "uplifting" and "contagiously optimistic ability to communicate," Toomey said, "to unite not just the Republican Party but the American people generally."
His endorsement came as Rubio's third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses this week gave him a burst of momentum and fueled hopes he can emerge as the mainstream Republican best able to take on Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz.
Many in the GOP, including Toomey supporters, fear that nominating Trump or Cruz would be a disaster for Republicans in swing states.
Toomey has stockpiled $9.6 million for the coming race.
@JonathanTamari