New campaign finance reports released Tuesday show House Speaker Lisa Demuth has more cash on hand than her two GOP primary opponents in the race for Minnesota governor.
As of May 31, Demuth’s campaign reported raising $360,074 since the beginning of the year and spending $285,475. She has $517,679 available with zero debt.
Meanwhile, businessman Kendall Qualls, the GOP-endorsed candidate for governor, reported raising $211,304 and spending $294,730 with $34,189 in cash on hand. Qualls’ campaign has $37,000 in total debt.
However, he told Alpha News in a statement that “the ‘debt’ is my personal contribution of $37,000 to the campaign. It’s not a debt.”
“We’ve seen a surge in activity from donors not just in Minnesota, but from around the country in our two weeks as the Republican-endorsed candidate,” Qualls posted on social media, saying his campaign “has the resources to win the primary in August and beat Amy Klobuchar in November.”
“Only in the world of politics is candidates having more money and falling well short of expectations considered a positive,” he added.
MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is also running in the Republican primary. His campaign reported a total of $648,959 raised, $717,491 spent, and $11,703 available with no debt.
“Lisa Demuth’s campaign is the only one built to win the primary and compete aggressively with Amy Klobuchar,” Demuth campaign spokesperson Hank Long said in a statement. “Both Qualls and Lindell have spent more than they’ve raised this year and are effectively out of money.”
On the Democratic side, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has raised significantly more than any of her potential Republican opponents, reporting $7,045,318 raised and $3,859,682 in cash on hand.
Here’s a breakdown of the campaign finance reports covering the period of Jan. 1 to May 31 for each statewide race:
Governor
Kendall Qualls (Republican, endorsed)
- Raised: $211,304
- Spent: $294,730
- Cash on hand: $34,189
- Total debt: $37,000
Lisa Demuth (Republican)
- Raised: $360,074
- Spent: $285,475
- Cash on hand: $517,679
- Total debt: 0
Mike Lindell (Republican)
- Raised: $648,959
- Spent: $717,491
- Cash on hand: $11,703
- Total debt: 0
Amy Klobuchar (Democrat, endorsed)
- Raised: $7,045,318
- Spent: $3,185,635
- Cash on hand: $3,859,682
- Total debt: $62,163
Attorney general
Ron Schutz (Republican, endorsed)
- Raised: $212,976
- Spent: $151,306
- Cash on hand: $292,034
- Total debt: 0
Keith Ellison (Democrat, endorsed)
- Raised: $517,029
- Spent: $212,182
- Cash on hand: $579,448
- Total debt: 0
Secretary of state
Tad Jude (Republican, endorsed)
- Raised: $35,209
- Spent: $30,877
- Cash on hand: $8,083
- Total debt: $9,000
Steve Simon (Democrat, endorsed)
- Raised: $206,922
- Spent: $136,797
- Cash on hand: $416,666
- Total debt: 0
State auditor
Nate George (Republican, endorsed)
- Raised: $12,834
- Spent: $9,618
- Cash on hand: $5,725
- Total debt: 0
Scott Jensen (Republican)
- Raised: $102,446
- Spent: $21,771
- Cash on hand: $80,674
- Total debt: $12,208
Zack Filipovich (Democrat, endorsed)
- Raised: $30,583
- Spent: $19,704
- Cash on hand: $15,477
- Total debt: 0
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
