CT lawmakers raising plenty of campaign cash

Washington – Although most of them do not yet have opponents, members of Connecticut’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives have raised plenty of campaign cash this year.

According to the latest filing with the Federal Elections Commission, Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5^th District, has raised the most money, about $709,000 as of Sept. 30.

Esty has a Republican rival, John Pistone but he has not yet met the FEC’s $5,000 threshold for money raised or spent that would require him to file a campaign finance report.

But Esty has already received a $1,000 donation from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which usually gives to endangered Democrats, and $5,000 from the New Democrat Coalition, a group of centrist Democrats co-chaired by Rep. Jim Himes, D-4^th District.

Only in her second term in Congress, Esty has already won the support of many political action committees, or PACs. Nearly half of the money Esty has raised has come from PACs.

Among them is the NACE International PAC, which donated $2,500. NACE represents the anti-corrosion industry.  Esty is one of two members of the House Corrosion Prevention Caucus and has sponsored an amendment to a House transportation bill that would require the U.S. Department of Transportation to do more to fight corrosion of bridges.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-4^th District, is the only Connecticut House member to have a Republican challenger at this point in the 2016 campaign cycle. It is state Rep. John Shaban of Redding.

While Himes has raised $674,000 and had $1.4 million in cash on hand on Sept. 30, Shaban has raised only about $26,000 and had $22,000 in his campaign coffers at the end of the reporting period. But Shaban entered the race only about a month before the reporting deadline.

Linda McMahon, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for governor and the U.S. Senate in Connecticut, contributed $8,100 to Shaban’s campaign.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3^rd District, ended the reporting period with the least amount of any incumbent, about $109,000. But that’s because she has spent a lot of money on dues to the DCCC, about $110,000, and has donated about $12,000 to other Democrats.

Rep. Joe Courtney, D-3^rd District, has raised $383,000 this cycle and is amassing a sizable war chest that would help fend off a challenger. He ended the reporting period with $754,000 in his campaign account.

Rep. John Larson, D-1^st District, raised $552,000 and gave some of that money to charity. In the third quarter of this year, Larson donated $600 to the East Hartford Rotary Club, $2,500 to the East Hartford Interfaith Ministries, $950 to the UConn Foundation, and $2,500 to the St. Patrick-St. Anthony Catholic Church. Larson also paid $50,000 in DCCC dues.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Rep. Elizabeth Esty does not have a rival. Republican John Pistone has announced his candidacy to run in the 5th Congressional District, but has not filed a campaign finance report.