With the latest filing with the Federal Election Commission State Senator Tim Kennedy has once again demonstrated his fundraising prowess. He reported campaign donations totaling $1,697,729 since announcing his NY26 candidacy in mid-November, including $952,826 since his previous filing for the period ending December 31.
Kennedy is the Democratic and Working Families parties candidate for NY26 in the April 30 special election. Kennedy’s Republican-Conservative opponent, Gary Dickson, raised $35,431 through April 10 and reported cash on hand of $14,362.
Here are some highlights about Kennedy’s haul for the period from mid-November through April 10:
- 533 itemized individual contributors have donated.
- The average itemized donation from individuals was $2,330.
- An additional $61,905 was received in unitemized individual contributions.
- Donations from PACs and other committees totaled $369,100.
- $24,713 was received as transfers from other authorized committee.
- The filing reported expenses of $1,043,812.
- Kennedy’s cash on hand as of April 10th was $653,917.
Kennedy, as of mid-January, still had $1.3 million left in his state campaign account, which cannot be used for a congressional race.
The 25 House incumbents from New York State collectively raised $75.7 million in the first quarter of 2024. When the receipts of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries ($12.7 million); Republican Leadership team member Elise Stefanik ($8 million); and Tom Suozzi’s special election ($6.9 million) are removed from the group, the total raised among the remaining 22 incumbents was $48.1 million; that is an average of $2.2 million.
In Western New York Congressman Nick Langworthy (NY23) raised $1,124,565 in the first quarter of 2024; spent $392,299; and has cash on hand of $822,735. Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY24) raised $1,693,739; spent $1,087,127; and has a balance of $668,061 available. Also in NY24, Republican Mario Fratto raised $506,444 and has $472,475 cash on hand. The Democratic candidate in NY24, David Wagenhauser, raised $15,887 and has $11,330 available.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a candidate for re-election this year, raised $12.4 million and had slightly less than $10 million cash on hand as of March 31. The endorsed Republican candidate for the Senate, Michael Sapraicone, raised $714,699 and had cash on hand of $299,118. Both of the candidates might have primary elections in June.
Kennedy’s first quarter receipts place him ahead of five New York House incumbents in collections, although because of different reporting deadlines for regular and special elections, he had an extra 10 days of financial activity to report compared with the incumbents, who operated under a March 31 financial cutoff date.
All of this demonstrates the incredibly large role that money plays in politics these days. It takes a lot of a candidate’s time to raise $2.2 million in three months. That comes out to nearly $24,000 each and every day.
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