The quarterly Federal fundraising and expenditures report for the quarter ending September 30 from Republican Congressman Andy Ogles shows another period of poor fundraising by the incumbent. Ogles reported $57,916 on hand against $70,368 in campaign debt ($20,000 of which is a personal loan, while the rest is owed to the DC law firm Holtzman Vogel).
Ogles raised roughly $39,000 this quarter from donors and another $25,500 from PACs. So far this year, about half of Ogles’ total fundraising ($77,500) has come from PACs.
Last quarter, Ogles reported raising only $53,187.28 for the period ending June 30. At that time, he had $59,406.19 cash on hand, about $2000 more than he currently reports.
The Ogles campaign spent $57,507 between July 1 and Sept. 30. Most of which, $50,000, went to GOP political consultants, of which a portion may have been for “fundraising”. The bottom line for Ogles is that he owes more than he has on hand. And he has formidable and well-funded opponents in both the Republican primary and general election next year.
Just hours after Ogles’ quarterly filing, Democrat Chaz Molder reported $797,635 in fundraising — including more than $500,000 raised in the 24 hours after his early September campaign launch, according to his campaign. He reports $33,762 in spending for the quarter that just ended.
Republican and former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher announced this week that he will challenge Ogles in the GOP primary. Hatcher will report his initial fundraising over the next quarter in January.
Ogles’ fundraising weakness was highlighted by the comparative numbers released this week by Johnny Garrett and Van Hilleary, who are running in the GOP Primary in the 6th District, which will be an open seat following the announcement earlier this year by Rep. John Rose that he will be seeking the office of Governor next year. Garrett reported raising $725,000, of which about half was a personal loan from himself. Hilleary raised $607,640.89, all of which came from donors.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
