January 31, 2020 02:54 PM UTC

BOOM! Gardner Barely Cracks $2 Million in Q4

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) finally reported his Q4 2019 fundraising numbers this afternoon. They are positively shocking.

Gardner raised just more than $2 million in Q4 — or about 40% less than Democratic challenger John Hickenlooper ($2.8 million raised in Q4). Gardner’s $2,030,797 end-of-year filing includes $334,000 in committee transfers, meaning that his campaign only actually raised about $1.63 from actual contributors.

The obvious takeaway here is bad news for Gardner. In Arizona, incumbent Sen. Martha McSally DOUBLED Gardner’s Q4 fundraising. Like Gardner, McSally is running for re-election in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country in 2020. Unlike Gardner, Republican donors appear to be interested in helping McSally get re-elected. Gardner has $7.7 million cash on hand after five years in the U.S. Senate; McSally has $7.6 million in the bank and has only been in office for one year (she was selected to fill the end of John McCain’s term).

We’ll leave the last word for Gardner’s own campaign, which must be getting dizzy from so much ridiculous spin. Gardner Campaign Manager Casey Contres is calling his boss’s Q4 fundraising “historic,” which is certainly true — just not in a good way.