WASHINGTON -- Rep. Donna F. Edwards will report raising $335,000 in her bid for the Senate -- about a third of what her leading opponent in the race raised during the first quarter.
The Prince George's County Democrat, who is running to replace retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, touted the number of donors giving to her campaign in its first weeks -- over 3,700 -- but the total haul was far less than the $1 million raised by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who is also seeking the seat.
Edwards has not been known as a particularly prodigious fundraiser -- she hasn't had to raise large sums in the 4th Congressional District, a seat that has long been safe for Democrats. And so in that sense it isn't a surprise to see Edwards' number less than Van Hollen's.
But Edwards is also being helped in her fundraising by several outside groups, including Emily's List, which has an extensive pool of donors.
Both campaigns got underway in March. The first quarter report will be filed with the Federal Election Commission next week.
"The phenomenal number of contributors in the first few weeks of the campaign proves that the grassroots community is mobilized behind Donna as the candidate who will lead the fight for progressive values in the Senate," Garrick Delzell, Edwards' campaign manager, said in a statement.
Aides did not disclose how much money Edwards has on hand -- withholding important context that is usually provided by political campaigns. Without that number, it is impossible to assess how much the campaign is spending compared with how much it is taking in.
The Van Hollen campaign said this month it will report having $2.5 million on hand
In its announcement, the Edwards campaign said the money was raised "in just two weeks." Edwards entered the race on March 10, three weeks before the close of the quarter. A spokesman was not immediately available to explain the discrepancy.
Even though the Edwards campaign did not get underway in earnest until mid-March, some of Edwards' allies had set expectations higher. An email sent March 4 to prospective donors from the Women Donors Network suggested that "Edwards needed to raise $1 million by the end of the month."
On Thursday, Edwards said she would accept no campaign money from Wall Street, and she called on other candidates in the field to make a similar pledge.