WASHINGTON — Not for the first time in his career, U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman is trailing his main Democratic opponent in quarterly campaign fundraising, but what might be more notable for the five-term Republican incumbent is how much company he has.

Coffman took in $243,000 during the last three months of 2017, according to recently filed reports from the Federal Election Commission, compared to Democrat Jason Crow’s $274,000.

That puts Coffman among “some 30 GOP incumbents (who) were outraised by one or more challengers,” according to a tally compiled Wednesday by reporters at National Journal.

The trend suggests that Coffman, whose suburban constituency in the 6th Congressional District is divided almost evenly among Democrats, Republicans and independents, could have a tougher time this year than in previous election cycles — though fundraising results are far from predictive.

Coffman faced well-financed challengers in 2014 and 2016 and easily beat both Andrew Romanoff and Morgan Carroll.

Still, the Crow campaign trumpeted the win. “Never has it been more clear that Coloradans are ready for new leadership,” said Crow in a statement.

His roughly $32,000 advantage in fundraising from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 was not enough, however, to overcome Coffman’s sizable edge in overall campaign cash.

The incumbent has about $839,000 in the bank to spend on commercials, mailers and everything else that goes into a modern campaign — much more than Crow’s $590,000.

And Crow still has to survive a primary challenge from fellow Democrat Levi Tillemann, who ended 2017 with about $133,000 cash-on-hand.

Tillemann — and even Coffman — have tried to turn that primary fight into an insider-outsider contest, as Crow received about $49,000 from lawmakers and political action committees that include congressional Democrats Steny Hoyer, Barbara Lee and Pete Aguilar.

“Like Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Jason Crow’s fundraising is clearly benefiting from Washington, D.C. party committee assistance and national donors who are eager to stamp out the more-liberal, less corporate, grassroots alternative in his primary,” said Tyler Sandberg, Coffman’s campaign manager, in a statement.

Coffman also received money from political action committees, which contribute money on behalf of companies and special interests.

About $99,000 of his $243,000 in fundraising last quarter came from these groups. Among them: $1,000 from Rolls-Royce, $1,000 from Visa and $1,000 from the American Wind Energy Association.