Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin raised more than $1.3 million in the first quarter, swamping her likely Republican challenger in Michigan’s newly configured 7th Congressional District, Tom Barrett, while growing her war chest to $5.5 million.
Slotkin, first elected in the 2018 Democratic House wave by beating a GOP incumbent, is bracing for a fight in a new swing district, which, as drawn, slightly favors Republicans. But the congresswoman remains confident about her prospects in a midterm election shaping up as a rebuke of President Joe Biden.
In detailing figures first shared with the Washington Examiner, Slotkin’s campaign emphasized that 89% of the $1.3 million raised flowed from grassroots donors who contributed $100 or less, with 0% coming from corporate political action committees.
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Slotkin’s first-quarter haul more than doubled the money raised by Barrett, a state senator who is expected to emerge from the Aug. 2 primary. The Republican raised $458,000 in January, February, and March, and in a press release issued Monday, he trumpeted more than $750,000 in the past four and a half months from over 12,500 donors, with the average donation clocking in at $60 each.
“I’m overwhelmed by the number of people who have invested in our campaign,” Barrett, a state senator, said in a statement.
But as it turns out, the Barrett campaign might not be as satisfied with his first-quarter numbers as the candidate’s comments suggest. During a Republican gathering in Eaton County in February, Barrett’s legislative chief of staff, Ron Kendall, said in remarks caught on tape that the campaign’s goal was to raise $1 million in the first quarter.
“We announced just before Thanksgiving, you know, really, you know, we chained him to a desk and had him on the phones, and he raised, you know, 310 grand,” Kendall said in a sound clip provided to the Washington Examiner by a Democratic operative. “He’s raising more money now — our goal is a million by the end of March. No short venture, but we know it’s going to be an expensive race.”
Clearly, Barrett fell short.
But Barrett’s senior adviser, Republican strategist Jason Roe, reaffirmed their satisfaction with first-quarter fundraising and said the candidate is on track to finish on top in November.
“We’re very happy with the progress, given Elissa Slotkin has been in this race for over a year and Sen. Barrett jumped into the race not even knowing what [district] lines are,” Roe said, adding, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that Barrett’s fundraising ran “headlong” into a Biden economy plagued by rampant inflation that has cut into “disposable income” available for political donations from grassroots Republicans and other voters who support replacing the incumbent congresswoman.
Slotkin is a dogged campaigner and prodigious fundraiser who is poised to ride a resources advantage over Barrett all the way to Election Day in November. But the Democratic incumbent is vulnerable.
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In 2018, Slotkin ousted a Republican incumbent in a GOP-leaning district as voters registered their dissatisfaction with then-President Donald Trump in a midterm election that unfolded as a Democratic wave.
Four years later, voters are unhappy with Trump’s successor, and polling suggests a red wave that could sweep Democrats from power in Congress is in the offing. House Republicans need to net five seats to reclaim the majority they lost in 2018.
The sprawling new 7th Congressional District stretches from the state capital of Lansing, a Democratic stronghold, north to Flint and near Michigan’s “thumb,” where Republicans have found increasing success in recent decades.
