Kentucky Senate candidate Daniel Cameron was once seen as the heir apparent to succeed retiring former GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, but he’s not raising money like a frontrunner.
Cameron raised a little more than $385,000 last quarter, according to a campaign finance report filed Tuesday night with the Federal Election Commission. It’s a surprisingly meager sum for the former state attorney general who faces a contested GOP primary that includes Rep. Andy Barr and Lexington businessman Nate Morris.
Cameron, attempting to make history as Kentucky’s first Black senator, was trounced by Barr, who posted a strong second quarter pulling in more than $1.4 million.
Barr’s fundraising haul suggests he’s got early momentum in the contest where all three candidates are racing to embrace the MAGA mantle. He has a significant cash on hand advantage over Cameron — $6.1 million compared to just $532,000 — that will give him a leg up in campaigning.
Cameron was the first of the major Republican candidates to kick off campaigning, launching his bid hours after his mentor announced his retirement. But slow fundraising can stall a campaign, and Cameron has yet to release an ad. And his $385,000 haul is less than the $508,000 he raised in the first quarter, meaning his fundraising actually slowed down instead of accelerating.
Both Barr and Morris have been active on social media. In one recent digital ad, Morris refers to Barr and Cameron as “McConnell Puppet #1” and “McConnell Puppet #2.” Barr posted his own video on social media, calling Morris a “Phony, Fake and Full of Garbage” while also referring to him as “America’s original woke CEO.”
Morris kicked off his Senate campaign less than three weeks ago, so a clear picture of his fundraising won’t be known until he’s required to report his campaign’s finances in October.
Two years ago, Cameron came up short in his gubernatorial bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear, which on top of his time as attorney general gave him name ID and experience running statewide. But Cameron’s lackluster fundraising shows that for now, the early donors favor Barr’s bombastic political style to Cameron’s slow-to-punch campaign — raising questions about whether he can mount enough of a fight to secure the nomination.
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