Washington – Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has raised more than $3.3 million for his re-election, while his Republican challenger, August Wolf, who has only been in the race since May, has pulled in nearly $240,000.
About half of Blumenthal’s campaign cash, $1.2 million, was raised in the second quarter of the year, the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show. Most of the money, about $960,000, came from individuals. The rest of the money came from political action committees. Some of those PACs represent local interests, including Starwood Hotels, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.
Notable individual donors to Blumenthal’s campaign included George Soros, a business magnate and supporter of liberal political causes ($2,700); Jeffrey Kanzenberg , film producer and CEO of DreamWorks ($2,700); and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards ($1,000).
Wolf, a 53-year-old investment executive from Stamford is a political neophyte who was a national champion shot put competitor who participated in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles with the U.S. track and field team.
Although Wolf has gotten off to a good start as far as campaign fundraising, he’s taking on a Democrat with a 64 percent approval rating and his own track record when it comes to raising campaign money.
Blumenthal is one of seven Democratic senators up for re-election in 2016. There are also three seats being vacated by retiring Democratic senators that will be in play.
Meanwhile, 22 Republican senators are facing re-election and two GOP retiree seats in play.
Democrats hope the need for Republicans to defend so many more seats in a presidential election year will work to their advantage.
The party lost the Senate to the GOP in 2014, when Democrats had more seats to defend than the GOP.