Cory Gardner Latest News

Congressional candidate Cory Gardner raised more than $200,000 in seven weeks, he announced Tuesday, dwarfing the fundraising by other likely Republican candidates for Betsy Markey’s House seat and sending an early message in the 2010 GOP campaign.

Bob Duffy, the political science department chairman at CSU, said Gardner “seems to have identified himself as the clear frontrunner” for the Republican congressional nomination.

“I am humbled by the outpouring of support that I have received thus far,” Gardner, a Republican state representative from Yuma, said in a statement issued Tuesday by his campaign. “In a targeted race that is going to require a strong campaign, this is a good start for us.”

He is among three Republicans challenging Markey, a freshman Democrat from Fort Collins. The others are University of Colorado Regent Tom Lucero of Johnstown and former Fort Collins City Council member Diggs Brown.

The Draft Diggs committee, which is supporting Brown’s candidacy, will report about $23,000 in contributions for the second quarter, bringing its total to about $53,000 since being formed in February.

Lucero’s campaign hasn’t released second-quarter numbers and reported raising less than $14,000 in the first three months of the year.

Markey also hasn’t released second-quarter numbers but reported raising $342,000 in the first three months of the year. That was a record first-quarter haul for a Colorado freshman House member.

She unseated three-term Republican incumbent Marilyn Musgrave in 2008 to become the first Democrat to win Colorado’s 4th Congressional District
seat since 1972. National Republican leaders have said retaking the district is one of their top priorities for 2010.

Campaign committees must formally file a campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission by July 15, covering money raised and spent between April 1 and June 30. No area candidates have yet filed those reports with the FEC.

Gardner campaign spokesman Mike Ciletti said the campaign had about $187,000 in the bank after expenses at the end of June.

Ciletti said the campaign received about $203,000 in contributions from 492 individuals and $1,750 from three political action committees. He said 453 of the donors are from Colorado, including about 100 in the 4th Congressional District.

Gardner didn’t join the race or begin raising money until after the Legislature adjourned in early May. Lucero has been a candidate since December, and the Draft Diggs committee was formed in February.

The Draft Diggs committee released a partial list of donors Tuesday to emphasize Brown’s support among business leaders in Larimer and Weld counties.

New contributors on the list included Greeley businessman Robert Tointon, Fort Collins developer Robert Everitt and Rocky Scott, a principal in the Loveland-based developer McWhinney.

Brown is a Colorado Army National Guard major who is currently on active duty in Germany. By law, he can’t engage in political activity until his active-duty commitment ends later this year, but he has expressed an interest in Markey’s seat.

Lucero’s campaign manager, Andrea Rasey, said the Republican nomination race is still in its infancy.

“Everywhere we go in the 4th, people are energized by Tom when they hear who he is and what he has to say,” Rasey said. “This is a grass-roots campaign; we have a new fundraiser on board with a proven track record, and we will be doing everything we need to do to win.”

Fundraising is viewed as an early indicator of a campaign’s success, Colorado State University’s Duffy said.

“Money is said to be an indicator of the seriousness of a candidacy — reporters and others who follow politics pay attention to the money, and thus pay more attention to those candidates who have it,” said Duffy, who recently donated to Markey’s campaign. “Donors also tend to flock to those who seem to have momentum.”

His CSU colleague, John Straayer, said he wasn’t surprised by Gardner’s early fundraising success. Gardner was a student of Straayer’s at CSU in the 1990s.

“Whatever Cory does, he gets out of the gate fast and his fundraising ability fits the pattern,” Straayer said. “The fundraising gap may well close, and Diggs Brown benefits from being in Larimer, but Cory will be tough to beat.”

Gardner’s cash haul since becoming a candidate is significantly larger than other nonincumbents in the 4th Congressional District have raised early in their campaigns.

Markey reported raising $116,000 in her first full quarter as a candidate in 2007, while 2006 Democratic nominee Angie Paccione raised about $38,000 in her initial report in 2005.

Musgrave raised $64,000 in her first quarter in 2002. Bob Schaffer, a Fort Collins Republican who held the seat from 1997 to 2003, raised $28,000 in his initial report in 2006.