PACs, self-funders and out-of-state money: 5 takeaways from Missouri Senate fundraising

There are just two weeks left until the Missouri primary for U.S. Senate and money is pouring into the race as candidates try to get a leg up on their opponents in the final stretch.

The three leading the Republican field are former Gov. Eric Greitens, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler. U.S. Rep. Billy Long, St. Louis Attorney Mark McCloskey and state Sen. Dave Schatz are all vying to remain in contention.

On the Democratic side, the race is largely between philanthropist Trudy Busch Valentine and retired Marine Lucas Kunce. Spencer Toder, a St. Louis area real estate agent, is also trying to remain in the conversation.

Here are five takeaways from the latest filing.

Kunce leads in fundraising

While the Republican primary for U.S. Senate is the more high profile race, throughout the campaign the top fundraiser has been Kunce, the former Marine.

Kunce has capitalized on national television appearances and social media posts playing off national Democrats’ distaste for the Republicans running in the race — namely Greitens. He brought in $1.1 million in between April and June and has raised more than $4.4 million over the course of the campaign. He doesn’t have a PAC supporting him like Schmitt or Greitens, but the haul has helped him build up name recognition across the state over the past year and a half.

But, while the money has helped support his campaign in state, most of it is coming from Democrats across the country. About 63% of Kunce’s money comes from out-of-state donors, which trails just McCloskey (65%) and Greitens (72%).

In the past, people have attacked candidates for using out-of-state donors to boost their campaign, but in the modern high spending political campaign, where people from across the country can donate with the click of a button, it’s become more common.

PACs

Most of the action for the leading Republican candidates in the race is coming from their political action committees. Those are the groups putting up the television ads attacking other candidates.

The PAC that was created to go after Eric Greitens, called Show Me Values, changed their filing frequency so they wouldn’t have to disclose their donors until July 20. They switched to a monthly filings, which means they have to disclose their June donors in July and don’t have to disclose their July donors until August 20, well after the primary.

There’s some strategy behind this. If Show Me Values is the PAC that establishment Republicans in D.C. will use to funnel anti-Greitens money into the race, they want to keep their donors secret as long as possible. When the PAC was announced, they disclosed that it would be supported by Missouri mega-donor Rex Sinquefield.

The PAC only spent around $1 million on attacks in June. Through July 15, that’s been raised to $3.8 million. If Sinquefield and a few others donated enough to prop the PAC up in June and other donors waited until July, it’s possible we won’t know everyone behind the attacks until after the primary is over.

The other PAC airing ads that had yet to disclose its donors was Missouri Stands United, the PAC supporting independent candidate John Wood. All of its money comes from just two sources: former U.S. Sen. John Danforth, who donated $5 million and ultra runner Karl Hoagland, who donated $2,500. Wood’s campaign said Saturday that it already received the 10,000 signatures necessary for him to get on the ballot in November.

Schmitt’s PAC, Save Missouri Values, raised $1.1 million between April and June and on Saturday launched another attack against Hartzler.

Greitens campaign plays a shell game with money, moving it between Missouri First and the G Team into his campaign. There are two PACs spending money on his behalf — Missouri First Action and the Team PAC. The Team PAC is relying on $2.5 million from Richard Uihlein and Missouri First Action which picked up $1 million from fitness influencer Andrew Frisella.

Schmitt v. Hartzler

Hartzler outraised the rest of the Republican field between June and April, bringing in $914,819 for a total of $3.3 million over the course of her campaign. About 13% of the money she raised came from PAC donations as she picked up support from groups like the Missouri Corn Growers Association and the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List.

Hartzler needs the money. While Schmitt and Greitens have backing from PACs bankrolled by large donors, Hartzler’s PAC brought in just $320,000 in the third quarter. That’s less than the $413,250 Schmitt’s PAC dropped to attack her on July 16.

Hartzler’s facing attacks from both Schmitt and Greitens. So far, she hasn’t been able to punch back in the same way.

Lagging Money

Long, McCloskey and Schatz all failed to raise more than $100,000 between April and June, a sign that their campaigns are part of a second tier of candidates in the race. Long has a PAC supporting him (but it hasn’t launched an independent expenditure supporting him since May) and Schatz has poured in $2 million of his own money into his campaign.

In between April and June, Long raised $35,475, McCloskey raised $69,945 and Schatz raised $53,825.

Greitens is raising more than Long, McCloskey and Schatz, but despite his viral video in which he advocated for hunting his political opponents, his campaign account only brought in $251,519, around half of what Schmitt raised and a third of what Hartzler raised.

Greitens has struggled to raise money throughout the campaign, relying more on being bankrolled by big donors like Uihlein and Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus.

Candidate donations

Rather than relying on out-of-state funds, Kunce’s opponents have relied heavily on their own wealth to get their message out.

Busch Valentine, who is part of the Anheuser-Busch brewing fortune and reported up to $215 million in wealth in her financial disclosure with the U.S. Senate, has loaned her campaign $2 million to spend on the primary. She raised $360,562 from donors between April and June.

Toder has struggled to keep up with Busch Valentine and Kunce and has loaned himself $882,750 over the course of the campaign, $552,500 of which was loaned between April and June.

Wood, who launched his campaign as an independent candidate at the end of June, lent himself $100,000 to get his campaign off the ground.