In advance of Tuesday's reporting deadline, campaign finance numbers for the closely watched Republican race to replace U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Congress have rolled in.
Four Republicans are currently running to replace Bachmann; no Democrat has yet formally entered the race.
In the battle for the GOP nod, Tom Emmer so far has drawn in the strongest fundraising numbers.
Emmer, who ran for governor in 2010, brought in $150,000 in the last three months and has $275,000 cash on hand, according to his campaign. Tuesday is the final deadline to report third quarter fundraising figures to the Federal Election Commission.
"It is very humbling when you look at the fact that we have over 1,400 individual donors," Emmer said. "I'm looking forward to having another good quarter in the fourth quarter....It's going to be a good quarter."
He has spent about $100,000 since he first entered the race over the summer. His full finance report was not available on the FEC website as of Monday afternoon. According to his finance report filed in July, at least $70,000 of the money he had raised at that point was sequestered off for a general election.
John Pederson, a Republican state senator from St. Cloud, raised $51,600 since the end of June and has $40,000 cash left, according to the finance report filed with the Federal Election Commission. He has spent about $46,000 total, about half of it on mailing and printing.
Pederson noted that Democrat Rick Nolan, who ousted a sitting Republican House member from the Eighth Congressional District last year, had raised less than Pederson did during his third quarter a year before the election. Nolan had raised $46,000 in the three months before October 2011.
Phil Krinkie, a former state representative who ran for GOP endorsement when Bachmann swept to victory, said last week that he put $300,000 of his own money into the race. He had also raised about $40,000. His full report was not available online on Monday afternoon.
The fourth Republican candidate in the race, Anoka County commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah, said on Tuesday that she loaned her campaign $150,000 in the last three months. Her campaign said that at the end of last month she had $184,332 cash on hand.
