Advertisement

Brown Adds $3.4M To Campaign Fund Total

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown raised $3.4 million during the first three months of the year, adding to his already hefty campaign fund.

The campaign said Friday it now has about $15 million in Brown's re-election account. The campaign said about 71 percent of the donations it received between Jan. 1 and the end of March came from inside Massachusetts.

Brown's chief Democratic rival, consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, hasn't yet released her campaign total from the first three months of the year, but Warren's campaign has said that it's received $2.5 million from in-state donors during that time.

That $2.5 million appears to be just slightly more than what Brown received from in-state donors during the first quarter of the year.

Warren, who had more than $6 million in her account at the end of 2011, has been criticized by Brown for accepting a larger percent of her donations from supporters outside of Massachusetts.

About 69 percent of the money Warren raised during last three months of 2011 came from out-of-state supporters.

"We will once again be outraised by the Hollywood elites and out-of-state liberals that are backing our opponent, but we will have resources we need to run our race," Brown's campaign finance director John Cook said in a statement.

Warren's campaign has countered that Brown enjoyed a flood of out-of-state donations during the closing weeks of the 2010 special election that propelled him into the seat left vacant by the death of longtime Sen. Edward Kennedy from brain cancer.

Brown ended that special election with millions left in his account.

"Elizabeth knows that powerful interests are lining up against this campaign, and she is committed to building the strong grassroots army that's needed to win," Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers said.

Myers said more than 30,000 people from 350 towns across Massachusetts have contributed to Warren, with more than two-thirds of those donations under $50.

Brown has relied heavily on donations from the financial services and health care sectors while Warren, a Harvard law professor, has tapped the wallets of lawyers, fellow academics, union members and filmmakers.

An Associated Press analysis of 2011 donations to both candidates found Brown pulled in more than $880,000 last year in donations from bankers, investors, venture capitalists, private equity professionals and others working in the financial services sector.

The donors worked for firms including Goldman Sachs, Fidelity Investments, J.P. Morgan, Barclays Capital, Bain Capital, BNY Mellon, State Street Bank and Credit Suisse.

Warren, who collected about $175,000 from the financial services sector, took in far more than Brown from lawyers, collecting nearly $700,000 from attorneys compared to Brown's $348,000.

She's also pulled in checks from the entertainment industry, including Hollywood heavyweights like Barbra Streisand, Danny DeVito and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, each of whom donated $2,500.

Also Friday, Brown's campaign unveiled a novel fundraising twist to help lure donors to his campaign - a day with the candidate.

Brown's campaign is offering one person a chance to spend a day on the campaign trail with the Massachusetts Republican.

The campaign says the winner will "ride with Scott in his truck, grab lunch at Kelly's Roast Beef, go on the campaign trail, squeeze in a round of bowling and finish out the day with a beer at J.J. Foley's."

Although no contribution is required to win what the campaign calls "a once in a lifetime opportunity," the campaign is encouraging donations to Brown's campaign starting at $10.

Brown, the only Republican in Massachusetts' congressional delegation, is facing a close re-election campaign.

Some recent polls have given Brown an edge while others have the race essentially a toss-up between Brown and Warren.

The race could end up being the costliest Senate race in Massachusetts history.

This article was originally published on April 06, 2012.

This program aired on April 6, 2012. The audio for this program is not available.

Advertisement

More from WBUR

Listen Live
Close