Republican candidates who voted to impeach former president Donald Trump have enjoyed an advantage in fundraising over their rivals in the latest quarter, according to new Federal Election Commission filings that cover the period from April through June of this year.
But that doesn’t mean their victory is assured.
“Now, the 10 House Republicans who broke party lines in the chamber’s January impeachment vote are heading into the second half of 2021 flush with cash,” said the Hill.
NEW: Pro-impeachment Republicans outpace GOP rivals in second-quarter fundraising https://t.co/dcF4IgtVoi pic.twitter.com/GzcAq3q3l7
— The Hill (@thehill) July 16, 2021
The highest-profile GOP defectors, Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, raised $1.9 million and $800,000 respectively and both are at or near $3 million cash in the bank as of the end of June.
But one Republican, incumbent Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina, who also voted to impeach Trump, raised just $326,000 in the latest quarter versus the challenger’s $500,000.
The fundraising disparity highlights a new front in the Left’s brazen cultural warfare, with many well-heeled corporations and other Establishment-bound institutions making the strategic decision to virtue-signal for leftist values as part of a long-term public-relations shift.
Most recently, Japanese automaker Toyota capitulated to the pressure from ‘woke’ decision-makers and activists who leveraged their social-media advantage to threaten boycotts.
The company announced last week that it would withhold donations from Republicans who had planned to raise objections during the Jan. 6 joint congressional session to certify the votes of the Electoral College—even though such challenges have been standard practice for Democrats after recent presidential losses.
However, analysts who reviewed a sample of NeverTrumpers‘ current fundraising data said a Swamp-driven surge may not be enough to help the incumbents in their home states.
“To be sure, fundraising isn’t always a good measure of a candidates’ odds of winning, and the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are still likely to face uphill battles next year,” said the Hill.
For example, a robust campaign war-chest may not help much as Cheney, who was censured by her own state party, faces at least five primary challenges from the Right.
Cheney’s filing showed that the vast majority of her campaign donations came from out of state—a telling indication of support from special-interests groups and activists in the opposing party.
Among them is Jason Lettmann, a biotech executive from Boulder, Colorado, who donated $250 to support Cheney’s bid in neighboring Wyoming.
Lettmann has made previous donations to the Venture Capital Association and to Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who endorsed Bernie Sanders for president and has introduced legislation to abolish monopolies in pharmaceuticals.
Trump, meanwhile, has publicly pledged to support the effort to defeat Cheney and other GOP defectors.
In an April 27 statement, he called attention to the ousted GOP conference chair’s low poll numbers.
“Liz Cheney is polling sooo low in Wyoming, and has sooo little support, even from the Wyoming Republican Party, that she is looking for a way out of her Congressional race,” Trump wrote.
“Based on all polling, there is no way she can win,” he continued. “She’ll either be yet another lobbyist or maybe embarrass her family by running for President, in order to save face.”
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
