WASHINGTON — Republican U.S. Rep. Dale Strong, running for his third term in Congress, edged out his Democratic challenger Andrew Sneed in fundraising and the congressman remains dominant in cash on hand, according to campaign finance reports due Thursday.
In the race for Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, Strong raised about $236,000 for his reelection bid from July through September while Sneed hauled in about $214,000 over the same three-month period.
But Strong has a massive war chest with about a $1 million cash advantage over Sneed, a Huntsville small business owner. Strong ended September with a little more than $1.2 million in cash on hand. Sneed had nearly $221,000 cash on hand at the end of the third quarter.
The Cook Political Report rates the Huntsville-area district as solidly Republican, but Sneed has been heavily campaigning, arguing the seat is in play for Democrats as the party grows in prominence in the area. Sneed recently visited Washington with a coalition of Democratic congressional candidates from across the country to push for government reform policies.
More than half of Strong’s contributions came from individual donors in the third quarter while about $90,000 stemmed from political action committees.
As a defense hub in north Alabama, several national security-related PACs donated to Strong’s campaign, but all the groups are based out of state except for a Huntsville federal contractor’s PAC, Martin Federal Consulting, according to campaign finance filings.
AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group, gave Strong $5,000 during the past three months. Eli Lily, which is building a new manufacturing facility in Huntsville, contributed $2,000 to the congressman’s reelection bid.
During the third quarter, Strong’s campaign spent about $449,000, which included expenses on polling, digital media, travel and media production.
This cycle, Strong has raised a total of about $1.7 million and spent roughly $1.2 million.
Individual contributions made up nearly all of Sneed’s roughly $214,000 haul during Q3, with $4,500 coming from three political action committees.
Two labor groups, the American Federation of Government Employees and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, donated a total of $3,500 over the past three months. A PAC called Rebuild America contributed $1,000 from July through September.
Sneed’s campaign spent about $163,000 over the past three months, including on polling, text messaging services and digital advertising.
Overall this cycle, Sneed has raised about $861,000 and spent nearly $640,000.
Strong ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Sneed won the Democratic nomination in a runoff election in July against Candice Dollar Duvieilh.
The last day to register to vote is Monday. The general election is about two weeks away on Nov. 3.