Steve Pearce (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Republican 2nd Congressional District candidate Steve Pearce raised $277,447.64 in the first three months of the year, bringing his total fundraising for the campaign to more than $1 million.
Pearce raised $225,287.64 from individuals, $46,910 from political action committees and $5,000 from a political party committee, according to the report he filed today with the Federal Election Commission. He also made a $250 contribution to his own campaign.
From January to March, Pearce’s campaign spent $138,101.43. The campaign ended the reporting period with $708,891.67 on hand.
“I am humbled and thankful for the thousands of New Mexicans that have made contributions to our campaign,” Pearce said in a news release. “We feel great momentum on the campaign trail. New Mexicans are eager for leaders who will go to Washington and fight for them, work to create jobs, lower taxes and decrease the over-reaching government that is consuming our freedoms.”
Finance reports are due Thursday in federal races. Pearce’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., hasn’t yet filed his report.
Pearce has now raised $1,037,585 for his campaign.
“When Steve Pearce got in the race, Congressman Teague had already raised $667,000 from special interest groups, unions and Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Pearce Campaign Manager Alicia Collins said in the release. “Over the last nine months our campaign has raised over $1 million, and we are quickly closing the fundraising gap.”
In the previous fundraising quarter – October to December 2009 – Pearce raised $252,463 while Teague raised $157,119.81. Though Pearce has raised money at a quicker pace since he got into the race, Teague had a big head start, and at the end of 2009, Teague had raised more money overall – $1.077 million to Pearce’s $760,308.06.