King raises over $1.1 million in third quarter

Independent candidate for Maine Senate Angus King's fundraising skyrocketed in the third quarter, with the candidate bringing in over $1.1 million since the end of July.

King's total fundraising for the cycle now tops $2 million, and he currently has over $463,000 cash on hand. His totals dwarf those of Republican challenger Charlie Summers and Democratic challenger Cynthia Dill.

Summers reported raising just over $500,000 in the third quarter, amounting to a total of about $746,000 raised this cycle. He has substantially less cash on hand than King at $189,000 — but outside GOP groups are beginning to fill that gap, wit the National Republican Senatorial Committee spending over a million in the state thus far targeting both King and Dill, and other groups, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, investing thousands as well.

Dill, running without the backing of the national party, announced that she had raised just over $57,000 in the third quarter and currently has about $10,000 cash on hand. 

Though King has the largest haul, he also looks to have the highest burn rate — he spent over $1.2 million this quarter alone to fend off Republican attacks.

Though King is expected to caucus with Democrats if elected, he hasn't said so outright and has not yet received the backing of the national party, though the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did recently launch an attack on Summers. But with recent polls indicating his strong lead might be shrinking somewhat, and with spending from outside groups likely to grow in the coming weeks, King could need more overt support from national Democrats.

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