The Democrat running to unseat Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is feeling confident after he received more than $1 million in the first quarter of 2018.
“Any time a first-time candidate for congress raises $1 million in 90 days, the seat’s in play,” Fresno County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Janz told CNN on Saturday.
Despite his strong fundraising numbers, Janz faces some factors working against him. Nunes, who has represented California’s 22nd Congressional District for 15 years, won re-election in 2016 by 35 percentage points. Janz also does not appear on the “Red to Blue” list of candidates supported by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democrat’s House fundraising branch, which signifies competitive contests the Democrats think they can flip in 2018.
According to recent Federal Election Commission filings, Nunes has more than $4 million in cash on hand for the 2018 election.
Still, Janz told CNN that the money that has been donated to his campaign shows people in the district, which includes parts of Fresno and Tulare Counties, are fed up with Nunes’ representation of their interests and his relationship with the Trump administration.
He said Nunes is “fooling around” as head of the House Intelligence Committee, where he recently spearheaded the effort to secure the public release of a memo that details alleged abuse of government surveillance authority by the Obama administration to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Asked if he there is any chance that many of Nunes’ constituents actually agree with the work Nunes has done on the House Intelligence Committee, Janz replied, “I don’t think so.
The panel recently wrapped up its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunes announced last April he was recusing himself from the probe in response to an ethics complaint that he improperly disclosed classified information. He was later cleared by the House Ethics Committee.
