Washington – U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, 5th District, has raised more than $1 million for her re-election, while Connecticut Republicans running for Congress have hardly raised any political cash at all.
Those are the findings in the latest reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
They show that Hayes has raised $1,016,943 in this campaign cycle and ended the 3rd quarter of the year with $891,140 in cash-on-hand.
The freshman lawmaker has drawn three GOP challengers.
One of them, David Xavier Sullivan, 59, is a former assistant U.S. attorney from New Fairfield who retired from the Justice Department after 30 years of service at the end of June. He filed to run against Hayes a few days later.
Since then, Sullivan has raised $59,173 and reported $29,953 in cash-on-hand as of Sept. 30, according to the FEC.
Another Republican running for the 5th District seat, Ruben Rodriguez of Waterbury, reported raising $1,184 and had $442 in cash on hand at the end of the reporting period. Rodriguez, 42, moved to Connecticut from Puerto Rico almost 20 years ago and currently works for the City of New Britain as a meter technician for the city’s Water Department.
The FEC did not have a report available for Robert Hyde Finley, a third GOP candidate hoping to unseat Hayes.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, had $936,729 in his campaign fund at the end of the quarter, while his Republican challengers, Thomas Gilmore and Justin Anderson, did not report any money to the FEC.
Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, who represents wealthy Fairfield County, continued to be the leading money raiser in the Connecticut congressional delegation, reporting more than $2.3 million in his campaign war chest at the end of the quarter.
Jonathan Riddle, a client advisor with Bank of America who live in Norwalk, reported raising a little more than $7,000, most of that in the form of a personal loan to his campaign.
Like all of the Republican candidates who are challenging Democratic incumbents this year, Riddle has never held elected office.
Two Connecticut Democrats, Reps. John Larson, D-1st District and Rosa DeLauro, have not drawn challengers, at least not yet.
Larson reported having $457,360 on hand at the end of the quarter, while DeLauro had $160,093 in her campaign account.
So, are entrenched politicians more concerned about reelection, or the problems and issues their constitutes are facing in the State of Connecticut. You decide…
Not a good situation when we don’t have a chance to unseat 76 year-old Rosa or 71 year-old John. These folks have suckled on the teat of Government for far too long and we need fresh faces in our Washington representation.
Perhaps one thing we could all agree on is term limits for our elected representatives.
Term limits are a must. It is the only way to keep things moving forward. Time for some of these reps to retire already. We need to give younger folks a chance to run and win. We neex fresh talent.
In this state why bother campaigning at all. Just support more money for unions, promise lots of freebies by pitching them as rights, and establish some link to socially acceptable victimhood and you will win.