Farrell Raises More Money Than Shays
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1-Democrats are planning to give 4th District Rep. Christopher Shays a run for his money-literally.
Shays’ opponent, Westport Selectwoman Diane Farrell, raised almost $100,000 more campaign funds than Shays did in the three months that ended Sept. 30, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Total contributions to her campaign for the quarter were just over $300,000.
“What was particularly significant about the quarter is that we did out-raise Congressman Shays,” Farrell said. “Most of the financial support actually came from individuals living in the district which is always important because it translates to votes as well,” she added.
With minorities in the Senate and the House, Democrats are seeking every opportunity to unseat Republican incumbents. In Connecticut, Democrats are also eyeing 2 nd District Republican Rep. Rob Simmons’ seat.
Connecticut’s 4th District is going to be the setting for one of the closest and most interesting congressional races in 2006, according to political experts.
“I think we’re in for probably one of the most intriguing races of the 435 districts in the country,” said Gary Rose, chairman of the department of government and politics at Sacred Heart University.
Farrell, who ran against Shays in 2004 and won 48 percent of the vote, may prove to be the Democrats’ best chances to gain a seat in Connecticut, according to Rose.
“She’s not a typical challenger by any means,” Rose said. “She’s certainly not a sacrificial lamb like you’ll find in some districts. So this is a very viable challenger and a potential threat to an established incumbent.”.
In the most recent quarter Farrell received contributions from a number of Democratic political action committees, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“I would say the 4 th district in particular you are going to witness a good number of heavyweight Democrats campaigning for Farrell,” Rose said.
According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, Farrell already has received contributions from Democratic incumbents, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
“She has name recognition,” Rose said. “She came very close to defeating an incumbent in the last race.”
Despite her early fund-raising success, however, Shays’ campaign manager, Michael Sohn, is not worried.
“So what?” he said . “The whole campaign is eight quarters? Nine quarters? You know what I mean? We’ll have the money we need to run our race.”
Although Farrell received more contributions than Shays in the last quarter, Shays had more cash available at the end of the quarter, with $469,197 to Farrell’s $284,653.
According to Sohn, Shays stopped fundraising for most of September after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.
“As far as Chris’s race, we’ll have the money,” Sohn said. “We have $200,000 more than Ms. Farrell in the bank right now. Fundraising is going fine.”
According to Rose, however, Farrell has the potential to make it a close race in 2006.
“I think that we’re going to have an extremely interesting race,” Rose said. “This is definitely a very vulnerable congressman right now, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how this all unfolds.”
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