Republican Primary Runoff in the 4th District that ousted the incumbent takes toll on campaign finances of the GOP nominee.
Now that the Congressional Primaries are over and voters in both the Republican and Democratic Parties have chosen their nominees, the race to the November Midterm General Election is underway in earnest.
Second quarter campaign fundraising numbers have been released, giving onlookers an indication of the viability of each of the remaining candidates.
In the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Congressional Districts, each of the incumbents – Congressmen Trent Kelly (R), Bennie Thompson (D), and Michael Guest (R), respectively – are in good shape heading down the stretch.
Kelly has over $250,000 cash on hand while his Democrat challenger in the 1st District, Dianne Black, is in the red, according to the June 30th reporting with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Thompson in the 2nd District reports over $1.8 million cash on hand. His Republican challenger Brian Flowers has just north of $14,000.
Guest, despite a highly contested GOP runoff in the 3rd District, reports nearly $350,000 cash on hand. Much of this is due to House Republican leadership providing the Congressman with assistance ahead of that runoff. The Democrat challenger, Shuwaski Young, is trying his best to draw national attention to the race and capture out-of-state dollars but only has $3,000 at this point.
The 4th District, however, is a different story.
South Mississippi Republican voters chose a new direction in the Primary Runoff, sending Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell on to the General Election instead of incumbent Congressman Steven Palazzo. That heated runoff drained Ezell’s campaign funds, leaving him with just $14 cash on hand as of the June 30th reporting period. Both the Democrat and Libertarian candidates in the race actually reported higher cash on hand totals in the latest filing, with Johnny DuPree listing over $10,000 and Alden Johnson showing just under $1,000, respectively. This is likely to change quickly for Ezell as Republicans locally and nationally will seek to hold this seat.
Here is a look at what each candidate in Mississippi’s four Congressional Districts has in terms of cash on hand heading into the General Election:
District 1
- Trent Kelly (R-Incumbent): $255,000
- Dianne Black (D): -$27
District 2
- Bennie Thompson (D-Incumbent): $1,825,000
- Brian Flowers (R): $14,200
District 3
- Michael Guest (R-Incumbent): $348,000
- Shuwaski Young (D): $3,000
District 4
- Mike Ezell (R): $14
- Johnny DuPree (D): $10,100
- Alden Johnson (L): $978
