On Wednesday we collected the names of 234 candidates in 115 different House races. Now we bring you some of the rarest of the rare: the challengers who out-raised incumbents or even have more cash on hand then the veterans they hope to unseat. First, a look at the challengers who brought in more cash in 2013's third fundraising quarter.
Altogether nine Democrats outraised their Republican foes, while five Republicans had better quarters than their Democratic rivals. There are a number of competitive primaries and general elections represented here, but there are some important caveats. In New York, while Democrats Charlie Rangel and Adam Clayton Powell are both raising
some money, Powell has made it
clear he will only run if Rangel doesn't. In North Carolina, Mel Watt is President Obama's pick to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency and he has completely halted his fundraising as a result. Watt's nomination remains in limbo and it is unclear if he'll seek another term should it fail.
A handful of these cases result from one or both sides not bothering to raise much cash. In Northern Virginia, Frank Wolf's low intake has Democrats hoping he'll retire and leave his swing district open. However, it is worth mentioning that Wolf has had weak quarters before and then gone ahead to run and win again. In East Texas, the 90 year-old Ralph Hall seems to be running on inertia as he seeks another term, not bothering to raise much despite only winning 57 percent in last year's primary in this blood red district. Luckily for Hall, his primary foe, Tony Arterburn, doesn't seem positioned to take advantage of Hall's situation.
In Colorado Springs, Republican Doug Lamborn's weak fundraising points more to laziness then anything else; Romney carried this district by a brutal 59-38, making it a very tough fight for Democrat Irv Halter. More interesting is Western Iowa Rep. Steve King's slothful haul: While King's district is quite Republican, his frequent tendency to put his foot in his mouth makes him an attractive target regardless.
The suburban Detroit MI-11 also has a pretty strange case. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio won his seat in a complete fluke after now-former Rep. Thad McCotter was thrown off the ballot and Bentivolio was the only Republican left standing. In his short time in the House Bentivolio appears to have fallen short when it comes to learning the art of political fundraising, pulling in a paltry $39,000. However, unlike the Ralph Halls of the world, Bentivolio has a terrifyingly real primary opponent. Aided by strong fundraising and a large personal donation, attorney David Trott is pasting Bentivolio by a truly astonishing rate of nearly 11 to 1. At this rate, it may take another ballot snafu to send Bentivolio back to Washington.
Update: Here's an important asterisk to Doug Ose's numbers in CA-07—he really only raised $238,000, not $488,000. David Nir explains the discrepancy. We've updated the diary to reflect that one less Republican outraised a Democratic incumbent.
Next up we have the political unicorns, districts where the incumbent has less cash available than his/her challenger:
Two new arrivals make the list. In the suburban Chicago IL-10, former one-term Congressman Bob Dold (Bob Dold!) leads fellow rich guy and the man who beat him in 2012, Rep. Brad Schneider. On Long Island's NY-01, an infusion of $1 million of his own money vaults Republican George Demos over Democratic incumbent Tim Bishop. All in all, six Dems have more cash-on-hand than the GOPers, while only two Republicans got the better of their Democratic rivals.
