Both the House GOP and Senate DFL, locked in tough election fights to defend their majorities, raised impressive sums of campaign cash, according to filings released Wednesday that cover the first five months of the year.
House Republicans, led by Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, raised $471,000 and have $970,000 cash on hand.
The Senate DFL, led by Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, raised $476,000 and have $1.2 million cash.
The House DFL, which is fighting to win the six seats they need to win back the House after losing it in the 2014 election, raised $390,000 and have $527,000 cash on hand.
Senate Republicans, who need to flip six seats to capture a majority they lost in 2012, raised $242,000 and wound up with $563,000.
Lawmakers' fundraising activities were curtailed during the legislative session, when they are not allowed to raise money, but with the session now over they can resume collecting checks.
The two state parties continued a pattern of recent years, with the Republican Party of Minnesota continuing to struggle to get out from under considerable debt accrued before the 2012 election, while the DFL raised at a healthy clip and wound up with $533,000 in its state account.
