In a show of force, some Rhode Island political candidates are drawing attention to their fundraising, as the 2022 election season shifts into a more active gear.
General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, one of seven Democrats running in the Second Congressional District, reported raising more than $1.4 million in the first three months of the year.
In a statement, Magaziner’s campaign called the haul the most ever raised in a quarter by a U.S. House candidate from Rhode Island.
“We are incredibly grateful to the hundreds of Rhode Islanders who contributed to our campaign,” said Magaziner’s campaign manager, Katie Nee Zambrano.
Magaziner ended his campaign for governor and switched to CD2 after U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin announced in January he would not seek re-election.
Having the biggest campaign fund is not a guarantee of victory, but money is a crucial part of campaigns, particularly ones in which candidates spent lavishly on television commercials to increase their visibility and convey a message.
Three other Democrats in the CD2 race also touted their fundraising ahead of the April 15 disclosure of the latest federal campaign finance reports.
Sarah Morgenthau, who has lived in recent years in Washington, D.C., said she raised more than $500,000, without specifying if she was loaning any of that money to herself. Morgenthau told the Providence Journal the last time she voted in Rhode Island was “probably” in 1988.
Former Providence City Councilor and former state Rep. David Segal, who helps lead an activist group, Demand Progress, with more than 1 million members, has not formally declared a campaign. He nonetheless recently reported raising more than $250,000.
“I’m truly humbled by the outpouring of support for this effort both in terms of money and individual support among leaders and grassroots activists here in Rhode Island and across the country,” Segal told The Public’s Radio.
On Tuesday, Joy Fox’s campaign said she has raised more than $175,000 in the quarter, about half in contributions of less than $100.
“What this campaign has accomplished in these first few weeks is thanks to family and friends, neighbors, high school classmates, and so many former colleagues standing with me and believing as I do that the people of this District deserve a congresswoman who really understands how to make a difference for them,,” Fox said in a statement. “It’s amazing to have this early support as we move full steam ahead.”
The only Republican whose campaign responded to questions about fundraising, former Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, reported raising more than $500,000 in Q1., with plans for a formal campaign kickoff in mid-April.
Elsewhere, in the race for governor, Republican newcomer Ashley Kalus has seeded her campaign with $500,000, incumbent Democratic Gov. Dan McKee’s campaign reported its best quarter, with more than $400,000 raised, and wealthy businesswoman Helena Foulkes, a Democrat, has the ability to contribute significantly to her own campaign. Also running for governor as Democrats are activist Matt Brown, Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, and activist Luis Daniel Munoz,
The primary election is September 13.
This story has been updated.
Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis@ripr.org. Follow him on Twitter @IanDon. Sign up here for his free weekly RI politics newsletter.
