February 27, 2012 09:07 PM UTC

Pettersen, Carroll Equally Matched in Fundraising

• 0 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

TUESDAY CORRECTION: Carroll campaign manager Aaron Cohen reached out to us today with a link to Carroll’s own ActBlue page. The numbers on that page indicate that Carroll is actually leading Pettersen in online fundraising with over $7,000 raised through the online portal. We took the $3,600 figure below from the Secretary of State’s TRACER Campaign Finance System which only reported numbers through January 25, 2012. As Carroll kicked off his campaign officially on January 26, whatever haul he brought in from his first major fundraiser wasn’t yet included with the Secretary of State’s office.

That Carroll and Pettersen are both posting strong numbers within weeks of announcing their respective campaigns is evidence of the lack of a clear frontrunner in this race thus far. Both will be able to make a strong case for the nomination, and now that both have picked the off low-hanging fruit through initial fundraisers, the financial race between them will only get more heated.

We sincerely apologize for our mistake.

Still, that Carroll has a primary opponent at all – let alone such a credible challenge from Pettersen –  demonstrates the uneasiness of some Democrats in HD-28 to get behind the candidate who put one of their own in a primary. Carroll is raising enough to win the nomination, but had he avoided his earlier entrance into the race against Kerr, the money he’s bringing in now could’ve been saved for Amy Attwood.

For her part, the Republican is reporting over $13,000 in contributions raised since December 15.

Our original post follows.  

Recently announced HD-28 candidate Brittany Pettersen has already taken a healthy financial lead over opponent Brian Carroll.  

Pettersen hasn’t yet filed any finance reports for her nascent campaign, but her ActBlue fundraising page indicates that she’s raised over $5,200 despite only having officially entered the race two weeks ago. Combine that with check and cash contributions Pettersen received at her kick-off and through donor calls and it’s likely she’s probably raised $6,000 or more.

Compare that to the $3,600 Carroll’s raked in so far and it’s clear that the veteran is going to really beef up his fundraising with just four months left until the primary election.

Pettersen won’t be able to maintain such a high rate of intake, of course. She’s merely picked off the low-hanging fruit from contacts she likely established as a former campaign staffer and organizer with New Era Colorado. Still, the fact Pettersen was able to raise almost twice what Carroll has in her initial fundraising push is evidence that Carroll’s fighting an uphill battle.

Carroll could’ve been poised to raise substantially from his position as the first post Don’t Ask Don’t Tell LGBT candidate for public office. That ability was hampered, however, when just about every high-profile LGBT activist and elected official in Colorado announced their unwavering support for Carroll’s former primary opponent Andy Kerr.

That Pettersen was able to raise so much money in so little time further indicates that Carroll’s having a rough time convincing establishment Democrats to open their wallets to him. HD-28 is a competitive district, and there’s no doubt that Democrats with the House Majority Project see it as a critical pickup on the path to winning back the House. Whether the establishment doesn’t think Carroll can effectively campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Amy Attwood or if there’s still lingering resentment from Carroll’s ill-advised primary challenge against Kerr is immaterial. What matters is that Carroll is grappling with problems he created on his own – had he waited to declare his candidacy until the House seat’s boundaries were finalized, he very well could’ve been the establishment candidate. And with a clear plan for victory, he probably would’ve garnered national attention from both media outlets and LGBT rights organizations.

But no advocacy group wants to give money to a candidate who can’t cross the finish line and Carroll is left foundering in what’s quickly become an uphill battle with little support.

There’s no reason Carroll shouldn’t be able to beat both Pettersen and Attwood: he’s a lifelong Coloradan with a compelling narrative who served his country in war time and is making history in the process. But Carroll struggled with the timing of his campaign and with his early, awkward interactions with the people whose support he now needs. As a result, the candidate who would’ve been a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in any other year is now struggling to keep up with the candidate who jumped into the race less than month ago.