York County Commissioner Chris Reilly has raised the most money for the race for the 4th Congressional District, but all nine of the candidates combined haven't raised the $1 million one pundit said would be needed for the race.
Reilly raised $192,100, with state Rep. Scott Perry coming in a distant second with $108,940, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission last week.
Reilly has also outspent all of the candidates, spending about $85,000 promoting his campaign. Perry has spent about $25,000.
Political analyst Terry Madonna said Republican candidates are likely to spend a lot of their remaining cash in the coming week, blitzing the area's voters before the April 24 primary. There are seven Republicans in the race, with each trying to distinguish himself and pull ahead with support from undecided voters.
Though Pennsylvania has million-dollar congressional elections, this won't be one of them, Madonna said.
"($192,000) is a lot of money, but not in the world of campaigning. They might just be using other ways to communicate," Madonna said. "Even with the support of wealthy voters, you can't have someone come along and drop $200,000 into a candidate ... because of campaign contribution limits."
He said candidates seem to be focusing on grassroots activism, though many have sent campaign mailers and some have bought television and radio time.
"I think what's going on is this is a relatively low-budget campaign trying to use more traditional means, shoe leather and support from organizations, using the social media," he said. "It looks like that's going to be the nature of this race."
What they raised: In order of amount, campaign contributions filed with the Federal Election Commission through the first week of April are as follows:
Democrats
Ken Lee
Total contributions: $7,500
Cash on hand: $6,040
Debt: $840
Harry Perkinson
Total contributions: $7,230
Cash on hand: $11,300
Debt: $15,000 (which Lee lent his campaign)
Republicans
Chris Reilly
Total contributions: $192,100
Cash on hand: $107,130
Debt: $0
Scott Perry
Total contributions: $108,940
Cash on hand: $84,080
Debt: $20,000 (which Perry lent his campaign)
Sean Summers
Total contributions: $71,220
Cash on hand: $16,730
Debt: $12,000 (which Summers lent his campaign)
Mark Swomley
Total contributions: $23,780
Cash on hand: $17,600
Debt: $0
Eric Martin
Total contributions: $9,900
Cash on hand: $1,640
Debt: $0
Republican candidates Ted Waga and Kevin Downs and Libertarian Mike Koffenberger did not file reports, which are needed only for candidates raising $5,000 or more. - Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436, ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com, or follow her on Twitter at @YDYorkCounty.



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