Tony Strickland Leads in California State Senate Fundraising

If fundraising is an indicator of success at the polls, former Republican Assemblyman Tony Strickland will win California’s District 19 State Senate race.

The candidates in the 19th Senate District campaign have now raised more than $7 million combined, campaign finance reports filed Thursday show.

In what could be the most expensive legislative campaign in California history, Republican Tony Strickland has taken in $4.3 million, and Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson has raised $2.7 million.

Thursday’s reports, which cover the period from Oct. 1 to 18, show that each raised nearly $1 million in less than three weeks.

Late contribution reports filed this week show that the two have combined to take in an additional $348,500 since Sunday.

Other reports filed Thursday show that independent expenditure groups have topped the $1 million mark in spending, putting the combined total resources dedicated to this campaign at $8 million and counting.

So, what does this mean for the Strickland campaign?

The 19th state senate district continues to hold a registration edge of Republican registrants over Democrats (albeit a small one). With more campaign dollars, Tony Strickland’s campaign and the the GOP GOTV (Get Out The Vote) operation will be in high gear turning out their base voters.

Remember California has early voting with a huge absentee ballot component. The campaign dollar edge will go along way in the waning days of the campaign to assure their message to undecided voters is delivered by mail, television, radio and telephone.

Stay tuned……