McSally Raises $1M In 5 Weeks; Challenger and Barber Each Had Roughly $1M In Bank Going Into Homestretch

GOP nominee Martha McSally blew an incumbent out of the water by raising $1M in the 5-week period ending September 30, and continued her streak of outraising incumbent Rep. Ron Barber (D-CD2) - she has now raised $4.8M in the campaign vs. Barber's $3.2M - yet both candidates have roughly $1.0M in the bank for the home stretch.

#AZ02 is one of the most hotly-contested House of Representatives seats in the nation, and it is rated as a toss-up.

Arizona's Politics presented the FEC's graphic summary of the candidates' quarters in this election cycle. (They battled to a near draw in the 2012 election.) Now, we can take a closer look.

Barber built up a fundraising advantage during the first half of 2013, when he was a new Congressman from a swing district while McSally toyed with the idea of a rematch.  $551k in the bank for Barber vs. $30k for McSally. (Barber started with approximately $85k left over from 2012, McSally had $20k.)

Since then, McSally has lifted off and has outraised Barber in every one of the five quarters since then.

The newest reports cover August 7 through September 30 - McSally blew out the stops, collecting more than $1M, compared to $675K by the incumbent.  (For the third quarter of 2014, the advantage was $1.4M to $0.9M.)

That said, both candidates have approximately $1M cash on hand, as of October 1.  McSally's count is $1,017,830; Barber's is $991,075.

Arizona's Politics likes to note that the amounts in the campaigns' war chests becomes somewhat less important in a battle such as this where outside spending is practically equal to the candidates.  To get a more complete picture, Arizona's Politics attempts to illuminate the outside spending - whether the sources are known or are staying "dark".

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