Did Braun out-fundraise Donnelly?
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A few weeks ago Indiana U.S. Senate Republican nominee Mike Braun took a victory lap after announcing his campaign had raised $2.5 million in the second quarter.
In a press release, Braun celebrated that big haul, the $1 million cash he had on hand by the end of the quarter and the fact that most of it—about $1.5 million--- came after the primary.
But Democrats are questioning one line that immediately follows those achievements.
It reads, “without personal contributions or loans.”
After spending nearly $5.5 million of his own money on the primary, Braun told ABC 57 News he won’t self-fund his campaign for the general election.
This week, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released the senate candidate’s quarter’s summary, and it turns out Braun did in fact dig in his pockets again.
“What matters to Hoosiers is that by claiming he’d no longer self-fund, and then announcing an inflated fundraising total that made the same claim, he lied to them for months,” said Michael Feldman, a spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party.
According to the FEC, Braun loaned his campaign over $984,345.00 this quarter.
But that amount also includes the month of April.
All loans made after May 8th came to $349,345.
So both his pledge to not self-fund his general election bid, and the aforementioned line from the press release are false.
Josh Kelley, a spokesman for Braun’s campaign clarified that claim referred to a specific line.
“As stated in our press release previously, Mike raised nearly $1.5 million since the primary not including any personal loans or personal contributions,” said Riddle in a statement to ABC 57 News. “As you can see, he put money into the campaign this quarter, but the ‘nearly $1.5m raised since the primary’ does not include any personal funds.”
Days after that initial press release went out, Braun tweeted an image that bragged he “handily outraised” his opponent this time around.
The tally was $2.5 million to $1.9 million.
If Braun had not put nearly a million of his own money into his campaign this quarter, that statement would also be false.
He brought in $1,526,012 in outside campaign contributions since April.