Fundraising wrap-up: GOP Senate hopefuls post big totals

By Josh Lederman - 04/12/12 07:11 PM ET

Republican candidates for Senate posted impressive fundraising hauls on Thursday as reports for campaign cash raised between January and March continued to trickle in. Reports for the first quarter of 2012 are due to the Federal Election Commission by April 15.

SENATE

• Former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) brought in more than $750,000 and has almost twice that much in the bank. Her likely Democratic opponent, Rep. Martin Heinrich, raised just $490,000 in the same period. Heinrich has $1.5 million on hand — slightly more than Wilson.

• Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) brought in $1.2 million — about the same amount that was raised by his challenger, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.). But while Tester has almost $4.3 million in his war chest, Rehberg has slightly more than $2.7 million.

• Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) brought in $1.7 million, a strong performance against former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz (R), who raised $1.3 million. The Republicans vying for retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s (R-Texas) seat have a month and a half left before voters will pick a nominee.

HOUSE

• Democrat Keith Fitzgerald came close to $300,000 for his bid to unseat Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.). Fitzgerald didn’t release his cash on hand, but said he had picked up more than 1,500 individual donations. Buchanan raised $484,000 during the quarter and ended with almost $1.5 million in the bank.

• Elsewhere in Florida, Democrat Patrick Murphy raised $350,000 for his efforts against Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.). Murphy has about $1 million in the bank. West hasn’t released his numbers but had $2.7 million stored up as of the end of 2011.

• Democrat Hayden Rogers took in just over $300,000 in the six weeks he has been in the campaign to replace his former boss, retiring Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). He ended the quarter with about $280,000 on hand.

• Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) brought in almost $515,000 and has $900,000 stored away for his reelection. His opponent, Democrat Ami Bera, outraised Lungren in fundraising two years ago, but still lost the election. This quarter, Lungren came out the winner, beating $370,000 haul. But Bera has more in the bank: $1.1 million as of the end of March.

• Shelley Adler, the wife of former Democratic Rep. John Adler (D-N.J.), raised almost $310,000, topping her opponent, Rep. Jon Runyan, by about $15,000. Adler, who has been in the race for about two months, has about $290,000 on hand. Her campaign said she raised more during the quarter than Runyan has in any previous quarter.

• Astronaut Jose Hernandez, a Democrat, raised about $310,000 for his bid against California Rep. Jeff Denham (R).

- This post was updated on April 13, 2012 at 12:34 p.m.