Martha McSally is proving to be a fundraising juggernaut, bringing $3.2 million in donations last year for her re-election campaign.
The Tucson Republican started raising money long before her Democrat rivals, former state representatives Victoria Steele and Matt Hein, each announced their candidacy this summer. McSally has amassed a campaign war chest more than five times the size of her rivals combined.
Currently, McSally has more than $1.9 million in the bank, filings with the Federal Election Commission show.
However, the figure is just a fraction of how much was spent in the district just two years ago.
One estimate suggested the campaigns and political action committees poured more than $20 million into the race, flooding the airwaves with commercials and filling mailboxes with political ads.
Political action committees gave McSally $579,450, accorded to Federal Election Commission records.
The race was ultimately decided by 167 votes, although only after a series of legal challenges and a mandatory recount.
McSally’s opponent in that highly competitive race, Ron Barber, decided against running for another term last year.
On the Democratic side, Heinz leads in fundraising. He brought in $407,397 last year and looks to trade in his emergency room scrubs for a suit, tie and an official congressional lapel pin.
This is the second time Heinz has run for the congressional seat, last seeking it in 2012.
Political action committees donated $20,451 to Heinz’s campaign, FEC records state.
Steele, who resigned from the Legislature last month, raised $99,817.
Steele took $2,500 from a single political action committee, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
