Lack of cash takes a toll in R.I.’s 2nd Congressional District race – The Boston Globe
And former state Representative Edwin R. Pacheco, a Warwick Democrat, dropped out of the race in March, saying it was too hard to raise the money needed for the campaign. On Friday, Pacheco filed a report showing he had $34,348 in cash on hand – less than 3 percent of the $1.3 million raised by Democratic General Treasurer Seth Magaziner.
“When there’s an open seat, what scares people away more than anything are endorsements and money,” Cammarano said.
While de la Cruz said in a statement Thursday night that her decision to end her campaign was based on “deep thought, prayers, and conversations with my family,” Cammarano said it is also grounded in political science.
“Strategic choice theory in political science says that for a candidate to have chance, they have to work doubly hard before the primary to scare other good candidates out of the race,” he said. “So the energy is on early money, not only because it buys resources, organization and staff, but because you send a message to potential competitors that it’s going to be expensive to stay in the race.”
In their book, Fowler and McClure focused on congressional races in New York. But the same dynamics are evident in Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District, which is up for grabs after Democratic US Representative James R. Langevin’s announced that he won’t seek re-election this year, Cammarano said.
“Fung knew he had to raise a ton of money to scare her out the race, and he did,” Cammarano said. “(De la Cruz) is smart enough to know she wasn’t going to be able to compete with Fung. She wasn’t going to do a quixotic campaign where she went into personal debt.”
In her statement, de la Cruz endorsed Fung, saying he “now represents the best chance for Rhode Island to send a Republican to Congress.”
Campaign finance reports for the first quarter of the year were due with the Federal Election Commission on Friday.
Fung, who also ran as the Republican candidate in the last two gubernatorial races, received $501,954 in contributions plus a $50,000 loan while disbursing $19,112, leaving him with $532,482 in cash on hand.
De la Cruz received $66,930 plus a $20,000 loan while disbursing $3,442, leaving her with $83,488 in cash on hand.
With de la Cruz out of the race, the GOP primary will pit Fung against former state Representative Robert B. Lancia, a Cranston Republican.
In the first quarter, Lancia received $11,252 while disbursing $38,810, leaving him with $39,556 in cash on hand.
In the Democratic primary, General Treasurer Seth Magaziner is far ahead of the field in campaign funds after taking in $1,442,005 and disbursing $98,451, leaving him with $1,323,554 in cash on hand.
Magaziner had raised $1.58 million in the race for governor, but after Langevin said he wouldn’t seek re-election, Magaziner in January announced he would jump into the congressional race instead. He wasn’t able to simply shift the $1.58 million into a federal campaign account. Rather, he had to return the cash to his donors and ask them to give to his congressional campaign.
Former Biden administration official Sarah E. Morgenthau, a Democrat, received $424,159 plus a $100,000 loan while disbursing $19,622, leaving her with $504,537 in cash on hand.
Former state Representative David A. Segal, a Providence Democrat, received $251,669 plus a $25,000 loan while disbursing $20,301, leaving him with $256,376 in cash on hand. He is expected to formally announce his candidacy in the coming week.
Joy Fox, a Warwick Democrat who served as communications director for Langevin and former governor Gina M. Raimondo, received $176,354 and disbursed $7,867, leaving her with $168,487 in cash on hand.
Omar Bah, a Providence Democrat who founded the Refugee Dream Center, received $9,624 and disbursed zero dollars, leaving him with $9,624 in cash on hand.
The Federal Election Commission did not post first quarter campaign finance data for Democratic candidates Michael Neary or Cameron Moquin. Despite an arrest for menacing motorists and possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia in Ohio on March 23, Neary on Thursday said he will remain in the Rhode Island congressional race.
On Saturday, Neary tweeted “Unlike @SethMagaziner @SarahForRI and @DavidSegalRI we haven’t raised very much – $575 + $3-4k of my own money is our total – that doesn’t even require an FEC filing 😂 But our movement is happy with the organic 178,000 Twitter impressions, ~$500 Facebook ads performance.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @FitzProv.