For the third consecutive quarter Republican Richard Tisei has raised more money than Democratic incumbent John Tierney, and now the two are virtually tied in campaign funds.
In a press release, Tisei’s campaign said the former state senator from Wakefield raised nearly $569,000 from April through the end of June, his biggest haul so far in the 2012 election cycle. Tierney, who has represented the Massachusetts 6th District for 16 years, raised about $400,000 during the second quarter.
Tierney continues to have a slight advantage in funding because of a big head start in both starting balance and time. Tierney now has raised about $1.3 million since the beginning of 2011, while Tisei has raised about $1.23 million since announcing his candidacy in November. In the last three quarters, Tisei has outpaced Tierney by about $343,000, virtually erasing the fundraising advantage Tierney once enjoyed.
“I’m simply amazed at the growth in support from individual donors throughout the district. In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have imagined that so many people would be supporting our message of change with their pocketbooks,” Tisei said in a statement this week. “It shows that there’s a real hunger for a different kind of congressman representing us in Washington.”
Tierney, whose campaign has been plagued by a scandal involving an offshore gambling operation run by the congressman’s brothers-in-law, has struggled to keep pace. Publicly, the campaign is putting a positive face on the fundraising totals.
“The outpouring of support from grass-roots donors in Massachusetts shows that we will have the resources to win this election, and the enthusiasm from volunteers and activists to mount a massive voter contact program,” said Matt Robison, Tierney’s campaign manager. “Our campaign is more than meeting its goals, and we will be able to get our message out to the 6th District about John Tierney’s outstanding record of fighting for middle-class families and standing up to the right-wing Republican Congress in Washington.”
As of yesterday afternoon, neither candidate had officially filed documents with the Federal Election Commission. The deadline to do so is tomorrow.
Both campaigns have used some of the money raised for television ads to air this fall.
In late June, Tierney purchased $350,000 of air time during the lead up to the Nov. 6 election, and Tisei recently made reservations for five weeks of television advertising in October and November, according to information supplied by both campaigns.
Tierney finished June with about $700,000 in the bank and Tisei had $800,000, according to the campaigns.
