Incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton topped Democratic challenger Sal Pace in fundraising during the late summer.
Tipton, R-Cortez, raised $304,000 in the July-September quarter, leaving him with $511,000 in the bank a little more than a year before his first re-election campaign.
Pace, the state House minority leader, raised $166,000 in the quarter, leaving him with $213,000 cash on hand four months after he entered the race.
Tipton acknowledged he got help from a late August fundraising event in Aspen that featured Speaker of the House John Boehner.
When you get the speaker coming in, thats going to be a help. It wasnt the majority of what we raised, Tipton said. Weve had good support throughout the state.
Until now, Tiptons campaign had started slowly in the money chase. His third-quarter total nearly matches his fundraising in the first two quarters combined.
Pace touted his grass-roots support.
Im incredibly proud that we have twice as many donors this last quarter as Scott Tipton. Obviously, my donors arent as well-heeled, Pace said.
Both candidates relied on large donors, too. Pace got $5,000 donations from four union political action committees: United Steel Workers, Sheet Metal Workers International, the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers.
Tipton got $5,000 each from Exxon Mobil PAC and The Freedom project, a PAC for House Republicans.
Tipton also raised $32,500 the last few days of the quarter from 14 individual contributions from Houston.
Tiptons report to the Federal Election Commission also showed he owes $111,000 from his 2010 race to Rock Chalk Media. The company is owned by Alex Chaffetz, Tiptons media consultant for the 2010 campaign.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.
