Eight Democrats are hoping to challenge North Country congresswoman Elise Stefanik this year. It's a crowded field. But differences in money, staff, and strategy are starting to emerge.

We're entering the phase of the race where name recognition starts to matter a lot more. Next week, candidates will start circulating petitions to appear on the Democratic primary ballot. Each candidate needs to collect 1250 signatures by early April. Usually, petitions might not be a problem — but this year's primary field is unusually crowded. There are only so many Democrats in New York's 21st congressional district.

Candidates will be putting more time into travel and possibly advertising. Some have decided to hire more full-time employees to run their campaigns. Each of those options requires money. And according to the most recent campaign finance data available, a handful of Democratic candidates are pulling ahead in this area.

Financially, Boyajian leads the pack

The top Democratic fundraiser so far is Don Boyajian, a 33-year-old environmental lawyer from the Saratoga area. Boyajian has raised roughly $350,000 since launching his campaign last fall. Boyajian says he's worked with some North Country communities on pollution cases and local matters — but for the most part, he's not extremely well-known in New York's 21st congressional district.

Still, Boyajian is more than $130,000 ahead of the next closest candidate in terms of donations. Tedra Cobb, a businesswoman and former St. Lawrence County legislator, has pulled in about $218,000.

It's important to point out: Campaigns get big donations and small ones, too. The Federal Elections Commission doesn't publicly disclose information about people who give less than $200 to a political campaign. But contributions over the $200 threshold have to be listed individually in the FEC's database, along with information about the donors' locations, employers, and professions.

Looking at those files, we can start to understand exactly who is supporting each candidate's campaign.

Where does the money come from?

People who described themselves as "retired" or "not employed" contributed nearly 25 percent of Cobb's total campaign funding as of January. According to an analysis by NCPR, Cobb's raised a significant amount of money from people within the 21st Congressional District — at least $117,306.

By contrast, Boyajian's biggest sources of support appear to be outside the district. More than $180,000 came from professional connections, fellow attorneys, and supporters of Boyajian elsewhere in the state. Looking nationwide, several prominent philanthropists from within the Armenian-American community contributed the maximum amount allowed by campaign law — $2700 for the period leading up to the primary election, or $5400 to carry through the primary and into the general election.

Boyajian pushed back against some of NCPR's findings, saying that he's received many small donations from within NY-21 that aren't listed in his campaign filings. But he acknowledged that progressive donors from across the country have shown interest in his campaign. "It’s really unfortunate that running for Congress is such an expensive endeavor, but that’s the reality," Boyajian said. "Things have been going well for us. I’m proud that we’ve received the outpouring of support that we have. We're in a great position, I believe, to win both the primary and the general."

Boyajian said he's brought in enough money to hire five full-time staff members, with plans to bring on a substantial number of volunteers.

Other candidates appear short on cash

Besides Boyajian and Cobb, the six other Democrats in the race have shown mixed results when it comes to fundraising. Heading into January 2018, Emily Martz of Saranac Lake had brought in more than $110,000 in donations, the third highest amount of any candidate. Martz had also loaned her campaign another $13,000 out of her own pocket.

Keene entrepreneur Katie Wilson reported $83,000 in donations and spent more than $66,000 of it to run her campaign. Patrick Nelson — one of the first Democrats to announce he was running this year in NY-21 — also spent most of his campaign funds. But Nelson only raised about $36,000. More than half of that money came from small donations under $200. Queensbury attorney Ronald Kim reported the smallest share of donations, just shy of $8000.

We don't have financial data yet for David Mastrianni, an oncologist from Saratoga, or for Dylan Ratigan, the former MSNBC TV host with roots in Saranac Lake. They both announced their campaigns after the FEC collected candidates' most recent round of reports. Since then, two Democrats — Greenwich town supervisor Sara Idleman and Tanya Boone of Granville — also dropped out of the race.

But all that said... Democrats are not the top fundraisers in this race.

Fundraising is usually a strong point for incumbent Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and this year is no different. Since the 2018 campaign kicked off, Stefanik has raised more than $1.1 million. Based on the numbers we have, that's more than the current Democratic field put together.

Stefanik has been elected twice. But so far, she's only raised $60,000 from people within NY-21. Most of Stefanik's money — more than half of it — comes from outside groups and political action committees, or PACs, with limited ties to the North Country. Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, who served under George W. Bush, has contributed to Stefanik through his PAC. And Stefanik even operates her own PAC, the Elise Victory Fund, which can accept more money from individual donors compared to a regular campaign.

Stefanik has a significant amount of cash on hand and strong support from Republican party leaders, as well, which is part of what makes her such a tough candidate to unseat — and a tough opponent for the Democrats in this race.