Golden outpaces Democratic rivals in congressional campaign fundraising

AUGUSTA — At least three Democratic congressional hopefuls in Maine’s sprawling 2nd District raised more than $100,000 last year in their quest to replace U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, the Republican who has been in office since 2014.

The last of the five Democratic challengers vying to enter the race, environmentalist Lucas St. Clair, collected $207,111 in 2017, all of it in the last quarter of the year.

That puts him behind state Rep. Jared Golden of Lewiston, who raised $240,245 during the same period and hauled in a total $345,000 for the year.

The only other candidate to release a number is Jonathan Fulford, a Monroe builder, who said he collected about $108,000 for the year and still has most of it.

Craig Olson, an Islesboro bookstore owner, said recently he did not solicit much more than the $78,000 he had at the end of September. His yearly total reached $86,600.

“I am running a bare-bones campaign, and had no need to raise piles of money in the last quarter of the year,” Olson said. “I found that it doesn’t cost much to simply get out and meet voters and hear their hopes and concerns.”

The other Democrat in the race, Tim Rich, who owns a cafe in Bar Harbor, has not said how much he raised for the year. He had collected $50,000 as of Sept. 30, according to the Federal Election Commission.

All five of the Democrats are well behind Poliquin, who said last week he has nearly $2 million in his campaign coffers.

St. Clair said in a prepared statement that he is “grateful for the strong support of so many people who are willing to invest in a campaign built around ideas and not just politics as usual.”

“There is no question that we will have the resources we need to build a strong, grassroots campaign,” he said, because “progressive voters are energized and engaged.”

Though none of the major party candidates’ forms are available on the FEC website yet, it appears the cash raised by Democrats doesn’t include any significant loans or self-financing.

St. Clair’s campaign said none of the money he raised came from loans or contributions from the candidate.

Fulford said it’s important that campaigns “be funded by the people” rather than “big money” interests. He said he’s the only candidate who won’t take any corporate cash or help from dark money sources.

“We’re the grass roots candidate,” said Phil Bailey, his campaign manager.

Bailey said it is not the money that matters.

“It’s how you connect with people,” he said.

Campaign finance reports that show donations and spending through Dec. 31 were due by midnight Wednesday. They should be available online within days.

scollins@sunjournal.com