NEW ULM - Minnesota 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Mike Parry pulled in $52,611 in campaign contributions, according to his second quarter FEC report filed Sunday.
The second quarter report, which runs from April 1 to June 30, shows Parry, a state senator from Owatonna, spent $57,762 and ended with $30,608 in cash on hand.
However, $7,950 of the funds Parry raised were in-kind donations over 16 donations, primarily for food or golf tournament prizes. An in-kind donation is the donation of a service or goods, as opposed to a cash contribution.
This is Parry's biggest fundraising total of the campaign. It is nearly double his total from the first quarter.
Parry is running against fellow Republican Allen Quist, a former state legislator from St. Peter, in the Aug. 14 primary. The victor will face DFL incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Walz in November.
The report shows Parry is significantly ahead of Quist in funds raised. Quist raised $178,230, but only $8,230 were normal contributions while $170,000 were donated by Quist himself.
Parry heralded the totals as a significant advantage for him over Quist.
"It's great to see 1st District voters are so excited about our campaign and willing to contribute so much," said Parry.
Quist claimed he had essentially done no fundraising that quarter, but his own campaign e-mails show a fundraiser and event on June 27. The totals of the events would have come in prior to the reporting deadline. Quist even mentioned in the e-mail that a significant fundraising total is important and offered matching funds for contributions.
Both candidates have claimed fundraising has been difficult with an official Republican candidate not yet determined. Both have claimed that major donors are waiting for a winner to be determined before contributing.
However, Parry's report does paint a bleak picture for Walz's two Republican challengers. Similar to last quarter, Parry and Quist's combined total - even with Quist's large self-contributions - comes in below the $237,605 total Walz raked in this quarter. Walz himself is well down in his fundraising from his second quarter reports in the previous two elections.
The picture grows even more dim when put against total funds raised this year. Quist's total is $218,160 and Parry's total is $102,305. Their combined total of $320, 465 is 4 1/2 times smaller than the $1,466,453 Walz raised this campaign.
Parry passed off the differences in totals. He said his campaign was staying competitive, placing it around Randy Demmer's totals when he ran against Walz in 2010. Demmer's total for the same second quarter that year was $304,103,
In other news, Parry announced Monday that he will convene the State Government Innovation and Veterans Committee on July 20 to interrogate Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and State Attorney General Lori Swanson over their involvement with the constitutional amendments on this November's ballot. Controversy over how Ritchie has worded the amendments, particularly the marriage amendment, has been brewing. The date overlaps with the same date Quist has planned a major fundraiser featuring Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
(Josh Moniz can be e-mailed at jmoniz@nujournal.com)