Kansas Democratic Senate candidate breaks fundraising record

Kansas state Sen. Barbara Bollier, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Kansas, raised a record-breaking $13.5 million between July and September, she announced on Monday.

Bollier, currently a state senator, broke the three-month fundraising record for any candidate in Kansas by gathering more than triple what she collected in the previous quarter. The almost $4 million she received between April and June had been the previous record for a Kansas candidate.

Bollier thanked her 364,878 donors in a tweet, saying “I am so humbled by all of the support we’ve received from across Kansas to flip this seat and make history.”

The campaign reported an average contribution of $29.72 but did not say how many of the donors lived in the state, The Kansas City Star reported.

Thanks to you — all 364,878 of you — we raised nearly $13.5 million last quarter! I am so humbled by all of the support we’ve received from across Kansas to flip this seat and make history. We’ve got 22 days left, let’s win this thing! https://t.co/6LyiFMDBpD

— Dr. Barbara Bollier (@BarbaraBollier) October 12, 2020

Her fundraising haul this quarter is more than the $12 million incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and independent Greg Orman collectively raised in 2014, The Kansas City Star noted. Roberts plans to retire after his term. 

Rep. Roger Marshall, the Republican nominee for Senate, has not released his fundraising amounts for the quarter, but he has reported lower amounts than Bollier in previous quarters. 

Bollier, who left the Republican Party in late 2018, has almost $7.6 million in cash on hand as Election Day draws closer.

A Democrat has not won a Senate race in Kansas since 1932, according to the Kansas newspaper. But current polls show a tight race between the candidates.

Democrats experienced a strong fundraising boost recently after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and the Republican efforts to fill the Supreme Court vacancy before the elections. 

The total spending in the election so far by both candidates and supporting super PACs and other groups has reached about $29 million as of Oct. 11, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The highest spender has been the Senate Leadership Fund, a group that backs Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which gave $10 million to Marshall’s campaign.