Latham ranks high on list of top fundraising House incumbents
Between January and July, U.S. Rep
Jul 31, 202072.4K Shares1M Views
Between January and July, U.S. Rep. Tom Lathamhas garnered more than $1 million in receipts, making him number eleven on a list of the top 50 House incumbents for fundraising and the only member of the Iowa delegation to rank.
According to information from the Federal Elections Commission, Latham pulled $1,003,987 in receipts for the first six months of 2011 — well below the more than $6 million garnered by U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, but still well above most of his congressional colleagues.
In looking only at contributions from PACs or other committees, however, Latham nearly matches Boehner. Latham, who ranks seventh among incumbents in this category, reaped more than half of his receipts — $691,491 — from PACs while Boehner garnered $787,200 from similar groups. Boehner also ranks first in individual contributions, receiving more than $2.5 million of his overall total from this demographic. Latham, however, is not among the 50 top House incumbents for individual donations.
Latham is also the only Iowan of the state’s five House incumbents who makes the top 50 list for cash on hand as of June 30. Latham ranks 26 with just under $1.5 million cash on hand.
Some of Latham’s largest PAC contributors were:
- Truth, Accountability and Courage PAC, or TACPAC — $10,000
- Anheuser-Busch PAC — $10,000
beer, wine & liquor industry
- American Maritime Officers Voluntary Political Action Fund — $7.500
transportation union
- AT&T Inc. Federal PAC — $10,000
telephone utilities industry
- Burlington Northern Santa Fe RailPAC — $7,500
railroad industry
- California Dairies Federal PAC — $10,000
dairy industry
- College of American Pathologists PAC — $10,000
health industry
- EricPAC — $10,000
- Freedom & Security PAC — $10,000
- Hawkeye PAC — $10,000
- Honeywell International PAC — $10,000
manufacturing & distributing industry
- Next Century Fund — $10,000
- PAC of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons — $10,000
health industry
- Physical Therapy PAC — $10,000
health industry
- R.J. Reynolds PAC — $10,000
tobacco industry
- Swisher PAC — $10,000
tobacco industry
- The Freedom Project — $10,000
Eight of his PAC contributions came from organizations that listed Iowa as their headquarters. Those are:
- National Pork Producers/Pork PAC — $3,500
- Principal Life Insurance Co. PAC — $2,000
- Meredith Employees Fund for Better Government — $1,000
- PACEG Committee — $2,500
- West Central PAC — $1,000
- Hawkeye PAC — $10,000
- VGM Management Ltd. PAC — $1,500
- Stanley Consultants Inc. PAC — $250
Due to redistricting, and the Hawkeye State losing a congressional district, Latham has already announced he will be moving and challenging Democratic incumbent Leonard Boswellin the newly formed 3rd District. According to FEC filings, Boswell has total receipts of $332,540 — $121,550 from individual contributions and $199,250 from PACs or other committees. Boswell’s ending cash on hand for June 30 was $285,985.
When all 420 House incumbents are combined, they have receipts of $15.6 million — a $20.5 million, or 15.6 percent, increase from the same period in 2009, the most recent non-election year.
Individual contributions accounted for $75.8 million of House incumbents’ total receipts, representing $13.2 million, or 21.1 percent, increase from the first six months of 2009. Contributions from PACS amounted to $66.9, which only a slight increase of $2.1 million, or 3.2 percent, since the same time period in 2009.
Cash on hand for incumbents, however, has dropped. Currently, the incumbents have a combined $217.4 million available for use, a decrease of $15.5 million from the previous non-election year.
Non-incumbent candidates raised a total of $30.5 million for House races during the first six months of 2011, slightly outpacing the $30.3 million raised during the same six-month period in 2009. As of June 30, 2011, House non-incumbent candidates had a combined cash-on-hand total of $18.1 million, a $500,000 (2.8%) increase from the June 2009 combined total.
Although neither of Iowa’s U.S. Senators — Grassley and Tom Harkin— made the top 50 in any category, the 82 individual Senate campaign committees raised $103.1 million in the first six months of 2011 — the highest total ever reporter for the first six months in a non-election year. The figure exceeded the previous high of $93.2 million raised in the first half of 2009. And, in 2005, the last time this same group of Senate seats was up for election, 85 candidates raised $84.8 million during the first six months of the cycle.
Roughly 74 percent of the Senate contributions were from individuals; PACs contributions to Senate candidates totaled $17.5 million, or about 17 percent of the campaigns’ receipts.
Rhyley Carney
Reviewer
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