MADISON, Wis. — Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney raised more than $42,000 for his attorney general bid during the last half of 2021, easily outpacing his rival for the Republican nomination.

Tuesday was the deadline for candidates to file finance reports covering the last six months of the year with state ethics officials. Toney's reports show he raised $42,896 over the last six months and had $41,000 in the bank as of Dec. 31. He raised $84,366 over the entire year.

Former state Rep. Adam Jarchow reported raising $10,555 over the last six months, with $10,100 of that coming from a loan he made to his own campaign. He had $4,322 in the bank on Dec. 31.

Toney had a six-month head start on Jarchow. Toney entered the race in April; Jarchow didn't get in until late October.

Jarchow has criticized Toney for charging 10 people in April 2020 with misdemeanors for violating Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' stay-at-home order. The state Supreme Court struck down the order a month later and Toney dropped the charges, but the decision to bring them at all has raised questions among Republicans about whether he's conservative enough.

Jarchow announced Tuesday that he has assembled a campaign committee that includes a number of major GOP players, including former state party chairmen Andrew Hitt and Rick Graber; U.S Rep. Tom Tiffany; former Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch; and David Prosser, a conservative-leaning former state Supreme Court justice.

Jarchow and Toney will square off in Aug. 9 primary. The winner will advance to face incumbent Democrat Josh Kaul in the Nov. 8 general election.

Kaul has already built a formidable cash advantage over both Republicans. His campaign hadn't filed its official reports as of Tuesday afternoon, but Kaul announced last week that he had raised $675,000 over the reporting period and had more than $1 million in the bank.