Huge Fundraising Quarter for Pace

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by: Colorado Pols

Democrat Sal Pace has separated himself from other Congressional challengers in Colorado as the most likely to oust an incumbent in November. Today his campaign announced that he had raised $280,000 in Q1, which qualifies as the most successful quarter of any CD-3 challenger since the 2000 redistricting (the previous record was John Salazar’s $153,177 raised in Q1 2004.

Incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Tipton has thus far shown weak fundraising numbers, though his Q1 results are not yet available. Given Tipton’s multitude of policy problems, he can’t afford — literally — to let Pace keep winning the fundraising battle.

Full press release from Pace campaign after the jump.

Pace Raises Over $280,000 In First Quarter,

Sets New Fundraising Record

Pueblo, CO – In the most recent fundraising quarter, Congressional Candidate Sal Pace raised over $280,000, setting yet another record fundraising quarter for a challenger in Colorado’s Third District. He will also report over $520,000 in cash on hand, demonstrating his ability to compete this November. In the quarter Pace had over 1,400 individual donors, with 90 percent of those contributions coming from Coloradans, demonstrating the growing grassroots support and momentum of Pace’s campaign.

“Our fundraising shows that people are fed up with the partisan politics that have gridlocked Washington and our message of commonsense representation is spreading across the district,” said Sal Pace. “We are going to continue to run a campaign that focuses on jobs and a strong economy, not the partisan ideology that the incumbent has supported in Washington D.C.”

Pace went on to note, “contributions soared after our opponent voted to cut Medicare benefits in order to pay for a special interest tax break for multi-millionaires.”

This record-setting haul occurred despite that the Pace for Congress campaign did not accept contributions from registered Colorado lobbyists or organizations with affiliates who lobby before the Colorado State House since the legislative session commenced on January 11th.

Details about Pace’s Fourth Quarter fundraising numbers:

1464 individuals contributed to Pace’s campaign in the first quarter, bringing the campaign total to more than 2700 individual donors since June 1st;

90 percent of all individual donors reside in Colorado;

More than 88% of all individual contributors gave $200 or less to the Pace campaign;

Historical Overviews of CD-3 Non-Incumbents First Quarter Raised Totals

Scott Tipton raised $140,767 in 2010*

Wayne Wolf raised $2,966 in 2008

Scott Tipton raised $68,286 in 2006

John Salazar raised $153,177 in 2004*

*Was successfully elected in general election.

12 thoughts on “Huge Fundraising Quarter for Pace”

Middle of the Road says:

April 9, 2012 at 7:55 pm

Pace in Q4: $206,482

Pace in Q1 2012: $280,000

Very nice, particularly since he raised 90% of it from Colorado donors; even better, average donation is less than $200 which means he can go back for multiple asks.

Looks like CD3 is officially in play even if Tipton comes out with huge numbers this quarter.

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TheDeminator says:

April 9, 2012 at 9:06 pm

I think the Dem’s also know it’s the only pick up seat in play. 4 and 6 are pretty much out of play based on how much the R’s have.

I would assume many of the big Dem donors will be showing up on this report in a much bigger way.

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1. Gilpin Guy says:
  
  April 9, 2012 at 9:17 pm
  
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2. Fidel's dirt nap says:
  
  April 9, 2012 at 9:28 pm
  
  I think a lot of Dem donors will see this race as winnable, and thus money well spent.
  
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  1. TheDeminator says:
    
    April 9, 2012 at 9:30 pm
    
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Say Hey Kid says:

April 10, 2012 at 1:20 am

I wonder if either Miklosi or Shaffer will raise one-half the amount Pace raised this quarter?

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1. Gray in Mountains says:
  
  April 10, 2012 at 1:47 am
  
  probably not. Though Coffman and Gardner are equal to Tipton in their toxicity to American values they haven’t been quite as crooked
  
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  1. Gilpin Guy says:
    
    April 10, 2012 at 2:00 am
    
    They don’t allow Tipton to handle guns anymore because of his proclivity to shoot himself in the foot and balls.
    
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  2. TheDeminator says:
    
    April 10, 2012 at 2:33 am
    
    I am not sure this is much of a : Troll: As speaking the truth. If you have a good quarter you drop it early… If the Dem’s in 4 or 6 break $150,000 I’d be shocked.
    
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    1. Libertad 2.0 says:
      
      April 10, 2012 at 5:26 pm
      
      If Tipton was raising the kind of money that Coffman is raising, then $280K wouldn’t seem as impressive as it does. It would still be a good haul, though. And with Tipton floundering, it gives the Dems a good reason to hedge their bets on CD-3–even with Pace’s past legal problems.
      
      Miklosi will be over $200K, but it’s not enough to compete with Coffman’s war chest. If Miklosi had raised this amount 2012Q4 you wouldn’t have seen him being written off at the level he was. That’s the sad thing about CD-6… it SHOULD be a Dem pickup. The DCCC won’t completely ignore it, but this is going to go down as one of the all-time biggest blunders by the Colorado Dems in squandering a winnable seat that they fought hard for and won in redistricting.
      
      Same can be said of Shaffer, but with the numbers in that district he’d have to be pulling in way, way more than Gardner to be considered a competitive candidate. Even then, it would still be a tough go.
      
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      1. RedGreen says:
        
        April 10, 2012 at 6:03 pm
        
        If that had happened, he’d have access to a time machine, and tilting against Coffman would be the least of his concerns!
        
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2. ArapaGOP says:
  
  April 10, 2012 at 3:00 am
  
  Pols tried to carry water for Miklosi, but not even the Democrat readers could take the spin jobs. Now they’re realistic but it wasn’t their choice.
  
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