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Candidates plead for funds long after Election Day
A week past Election Day, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) and Florida Democrat Patrick Murphy are continuing to raise funds, prodding supporters with email pleas for monetary help.
"There's no two ways about it — we came up short. But like you, I know our fight isn't over and we have much left to accomplish," opens Akin's email.
As of Oct. 17, Akin had raised $4.6 million and spent almost as much. But in the final weeks of his campaign, he spent at least $1 million in ads alone — and, he says in the Thursday-night fundraising email, his campaign "ended up going over budget."
"We went to the wall in the final days of the campaign in a race where the Democrats were heavily outspending us. Our goal was to strike the balance of maximizing our funds while keeping the books in the black. Unfortunately, we ended up going over budget," he said.
Murphy, too, is still asking supporters for money long after most campaigns have stopped making pleas.
He's locked in a legal battle over the vote count in Florida's 18th district, which West has refused to concede to Murphy.
Though Murphy leads West by about .58 percentage points in the most recent count, the incumbent has gone to court calling for a full recount of early ballots in one of the counties in the district, and Murphy has told supporters in a smattering of emails over the past week that he still needs funds to defend his campaign in court.
"The legal battle is continuing and we will keep you posted as we know more after today's hearing. If you can give a gift today to help with our legal costs, click here," he writes in the latest email, sent on Friday afternoon — as a circuit court hears West's case.
Murphy's campaign has said it's not sure how much it will need to cover the court costs. But West outraised Murphy by nearly five times as much, and had $3.3 million cash on hand to pay for a protracted legal battle, to Murphy's $243,000, as of Oct. 17.
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