Preliminary 3rd quarter fundraising: Murphy out-raises, but Chris Gibson’s single donor support is astounding

By Sam Foster

Several campaigns are taking the opportunity to file preliminary finance numbers for their campaign press releases.  I'll be updating UPR throughout the day with the different races.  The most publicized thus far is NY-20 between Chris Gibson and Scott Murphy.

Hoping to stem some of Chris Gibson's momentum, Scott Murphy released his filings early and reported to have raised $325,000 since the beginning of July.  The announcement from Murphy shows that he outpaced Gibson's fundraising in the 3^rd quarter.  Gibson reported a total of $261,955 in a press release last night.  Both figures are an impressive feat from two candidates that are going to give quite a battle for NY-20.

Though Murphy is reporting to have outraised Chris Gibson, his press release is light on information on the sources of funding.  It begs the question of whether his fundraising is the result of individual donations, or personal lending and PAC contributions.  Regardless, Murphy maintains his healthy cash advantage.

While the jury's out on Murphy's sources of cash, Chris Gibson continues to prove strong, local, single donation support.

Gibson's press release reported:

"We are very honored by the overwhelming amount of support we have received," Gibson said. "We may have started later and as a challenger facing entrenched interests supporting my opponent, but we have proven we are competitive and will be running a complete campaign to earn the trust of the voters of the whole 20th district. The groundswell of support from individuals around the district continues to build because people know Washington is out of touch and we need new leadership in Congress."
 
During this latest filing period, Gibson raised a total of $261,955.82 from 952 donors. Over 94% of all the individual donors were from New York. The campaign had over $526,334.46 cash-on-hand as of August 26th. Since Gibson's campaign began in March, the campaign has raised $853,633.73.