In 2012 campaign, Bera raised more than $3.6 million.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Rep. Ami Bera, the Democrat at the helm of California’s 7th Congressional District, announced on Tuesday that he has raised over $485,000 so far for his 2014 re-election campaign.
That sum gets added to the amount Bera’s campaign already had, meaning that Bera now has $1.5 million in his coffers to spend on his re-election bid. According to a press release issued by his campaign, about 85% of all individual donations to his campaign have come from California, indicating tremendous local support for Bera. Over 73% of those donations are of $100 or less, each.
Bera, 49, still has a long way to go, however, before he reaches a comfortable amount of campaign funding. During his first successful run in 2012, Bera raised over $3.6 million for his campaign, and spent about $3.5 million of it, according to political transparency site OpenSecrets.org. That amount was about $800,000 more than his opponent, Dan Lungren, but despite the spending discrepancy, Bera barely eked out a win, gaining victory by a margin of 51%-49%.
Currently, three Republicans have entered the race to un-seat Bera and win the 7th District: former Rep. Doug Ose, activist and business owner Elizabeth Emken, and former Capitol Hill aide Igor Birman. According to a Roll Call report last week, Ose raised $250,000 during the first quarter of 2014, bringing his total up to $415,000. Ose also launched a television ad campaign earlier this month; television ads, expensive to produce and buy airtime for, are generally a sign of economic fortitude within a campaign.
Birman and Emken’s numbers have not yet been announced, but Birman has the support of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, which could prove to be a decisive factor in the GOP primary. Birman has also launched a web video campaigning, focusing mainly on discrediting Ose as a moderate Conservative who won’t represent a big enough change from Bera.
Ose and Birman both pose formidable challenges to Bera’s re-election, and the incumbent candidate will have to work doubly hard at both fundraising and campaigning to assure that he remains in office for another two years. California has a top-two primary system, meaning that on June 3, the two candidates with the highest number of votes will advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.