Political campaigns are expensive.
The candidates who raise and, more importantly, keep the most money in their campaign coffers will have the resources to be competitive as Arizona’s August primary and November general elections inch closer.
Federal Election Commission year-end campaign finance reports were due on Wednesday. Arizona has five competitive federal elections for U.S. Senate and Congress in 2024. How is the money race going in each of them?
Here are the components of campaign funds:
- Raised: How much money a candidate raised in the final quarter of 2023.
- Loans/Debts: The total amount of outstanding loans, debts, or unpaid invoices carried by the campaign. Self-funded loans are also included.
- Cash on Hand: Arguably the most important number. The total amount in the bank that can be used to run a campaign. Campaigns will typically spend the bulk of this closer to election day.
U.S. Senate
Democrat Ruben Gallego will face off against former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake or Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. Incumbent Senator Kyrsten Sinema has not yet filed the necessary paperwork for re-election.
Sinema has the most money in the bank with over $10 million on hand, but Gallego is not far behind with $6.5 million. He also raised the most this past quarter, taking in over $3 million. Republican Kari Lake trails with $2.1 million raised and just over $1 million on hand, but she is also reporting over $300,000 in unpaid invoices that would carry over to future reports.
Congressional District 1
Republican incumbent David Schweikert has a handful of Democrats looking to unseat him in November. Schweikert does not have a primary, giving him time to build up his war chest. On the Democratic side, Conor O’Callaghan and Andrei Cherney have the most money ready to spend, but the rest of the field either have large cash-on-hand figures or raised over $300,000.
Congressional District 3
This urban district vacated by Ruben Gallego will not be competitive in the general election. The contest has whittled down to two Democratic candidates: Phoenix city councilwoman Yassamin Ansari and former state legislator Raquel Teran. Ansari leads the money race. She outraised Teran last quarter and has double the amount on hand.
Congressional District 6
Southern Arizona’s sixth district was a close contest in 2022 that Republican Juan Ciscomani narrowly won. It’s shaping up to be another close race with both he and his opponent Kirsten Engel raising a similar amount of over $400,000. Ciscomani has the overall money advantage however with double the amount on hand over Engel.
Congressional District 8
The money story is looking good for Blake Masters, the republican U.S. Senate candidate in 2022. He reported raising over a million dollars last quarter, although nearly all of it through self-funding. Speaker of the AZ House Ben Toma raised $340,000 and has $327,000 in the bank. Trailing Masters and Toma is former Attorney General candidate Abraham Hamadeh and state Senator Anthony Kern.
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Editor's note: A previous version of this story showed an incorrect value of Raquel Teran's debts and has been updated.
