Though Republican John Kennedy leads in polls for Louisiana’s U.S. Senate race, he lags his Democratic competitor, Foster Campbell, in fundraising ahead of the Dec. 10 runoff election.
As The Associated Press reports, Kennedy, the state treasurer, raised nearly $1 million less than Campbell, a member of the Public Service Commission.
The latest campaign finance reports posted today show Kennedy took in just under $1.6 million from donors from Oct. 20 through Nov. 20, compared to $2.5 million for Campbell.
The men were about even in cash on hand, though, with the treasurer reporting $1.3 million and Campbell $1.4 million.
“He’ll outspend me, but I’ll outwork him,” Kennedy says.
Before the latest fundraising period, Campbell had raised only $984,000 from donors after nearly a year of campaigning, while Kennedy had brought in nearly three times that amount.
Campbell’s donations for the runoff have spiked from Democrats around the country who see the competition for the nation’s last undecided Senate seat as a way to register their criticism of Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
“He’s raised an extraordinary amount of money,” Kennedy says of his competitor. “You’ve got a lot of the liberal Hollywood left tweeting to the other Hollywood liberals and sending him checks.”
The fundraising lag hasn’t appeared to dent Kennedy’s front-runner status, however. A recent poll from Baton Rouge-based Southern Media and Opinion Research showed Kennedy with a 14-point lead.
The treasurer also hopes to get a boost this weekend when Vice President-elect Mike Pence travels to New Orleans for a rally and fundraiser for Kennedy’s campaign.
