Deirdre Shesgreen

WASHINGTON – Rep. Billy Long has about $700,000 in his re-election account heading into the November elections, more than almost any other Missouri lawmaker from either party.

According to his latest campaign finance disclosure report, Long, R-Springfield, has raised about $940,000 so far this election cycle — a fundraising pace of about $1,700 per day.

At the end of June, only Rep. Ann Wagner, a St. Louis County Republican and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, had more cash in the bank. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, also has raised more but his campaign is saddled with $1 million in debt.

Long's fundraising prowess comes as he prepares to face two little-known, meagerly funded Republicans in the August primary. If Long wins that GOP contest, the former auctioneer and talk radio host is likely to sail to a third term in the House.

That's because Missouri's 7th Congressional District is solidly Republican. In the last election, Long snagged 64 percent of the vote to beat out Democrat Jim Evans of Republic, who is vying to challenge Long in the general election again this year.

Long said he has to raise a lot of money because any opponent needs to be taken seriously. And, he added, modern-day campaigns are super expensive and outside groups are an ever-present threat.

"From Day One if you get in politics you realize you have to raise quite a bit of money to stay on TV and stay on radio and organize grassroots people," he said. "Everything you do costs money."

Long also said that being up for re-election every two years means the fundraising and campaigning never really stops.

Indeed, Long's campaign spent more than $550,000 from January 2013 through June 2014 — well before House campaigns usually heat up. His expenses were not unusual — including $124,000 on fundraising, $55,000 on consulting fees and $34,000 on salaries, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money and elections.

The two Republicans who have filed to challenge Long in the GOP primary — Michael Moon of Ash Grove and Marshall Works of Springfield — have not reported any fundraising to the FEC.

Two Democratic candidates, along with a Libertarian and an independent, are vying to challenge Long in the general election. Among those contenders, only Evans has reported raising any money — $63,743 so far this election cycle. He had $42,574 at the end of June and reported a $45,000 debt.

Long is hardly the only Missouri incumbent to amass a pile of cash in the face of seemingly weak opposition.

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, has raised $715,091 over the last 18 months, and she ended the third quarter with about $560,000 in the bank. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, raised more than $900,000 and closed June with almost $600,000 cash.

Wagner topped the Missouri delegation — raising $1.8 million so far this election and posting a $1.4 million cash balance at the end of June.

"I give everything my all, whether it's policy and legislation or fundraising," Wagner said when asked why she had raised so much. Like Long, Wagner also said that in any election, "you take nothing for granted. You've got to earn every single vote."

But the hefty re-election balances of Missouri incumbents come even as fewer House races in the state are truly competitive.

In Missouri and around the country, both parties have used redistricting to carve out safe seats for their respective incumbents, so most House races are now a cakewalk to re-election for sitting lawmakers. In a report on what it calls "Monopoly Politics," FairVote, a nonpartisan election-reform group, recently projected that the incumbent re-election rate in the 2014 elections could hit 98 percent.

House re-election rates have been high for decades, but in the 2010 election, 85 percent of incumbents were re-elected and in 2012, the figure was 90 percent, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In Missouri, there are no competitive House races this year, according to the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan publication that analyzes congressional contests. That means all eight of Missouri's congressional seats are considered "safe" — the six GOP-held seats will stay in GOP hands, and the two Democratic seats will stay in that party's control.

Political experts say the biggest threat many lawmakers now face is not from a general election opponent, but from a primary challenger. That's particularly true for Republicans because of the rise of the tea party movement and the growing influence of conservative groups that target GOP incumbents they see as too moderate.

Posting a big campaign balance early on, as Long and others have done, is a way to scare off possible challengers.

"Normally the biggest reasons for doing this are to send a message to potential opponents that it's not worth running against you, or to build a war chest for future races for (higher) office," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonpartisan group that advocates for campaign-finance reform.

He and others note that incumbents face another new threat: an explosive growth in spending by outside groups not affiliated with the candidates and so-called Super PACs, which wealthy donors and other special interests can use to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.

Outside spending in House races has exploded over the last decade -- increasing from $5.9 million in 2002 to nearly $200 million in 2012, according to David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for the Cook Political Report. That means candidates have "less control over the destiny of their own races than ever before," Wasserman wrote in an analysis of outside spending earlier this year.

Long said that's definitely something he worries about.

"You never know when these outside groups are going to get involved in a race," he said. "They come in at the last minute, swoop in with a big TV ad trying to knock people off at the last minute. That's another reason you have to be prepared."

Long said, for example, that he suspects Democrats might try to help his primary opponent Marshall Works. He noted that Works ran as a Democrat against Wagner in Missouri's 2nd District in 2012.

"You've got to question whether the Democrats are going to get in and back him, put in a bunch of money in at the last minute," he said. "So I really don't know what I'm dealing with."

Works said he only filed as a Democrat in 2012 because he had a "major beef" with then-Rep. Russ Carnahan and he wanted to challenge him in the primary. But then after redistricting, Carnahan was forced to run against Clay in Missouri's 1st District, and he lost. Works said he did not actively campaign after that.

He said he doesn't anticipate that he'll get help from Democrats or any outside groups, although he would welcome it.

"The only way I can overcome not only his enormous lead in fundraising and his incumbency and his name recognition is basically for everyone to gang up on him — Democrats, Libertarians — are all going to have to say is 'enough is enough.'

Reporter Deirdre Shesgreen writes for the News-Leader from Gannett's offices in Washington, D.C.

Fundraising by incumbents

Fundraising by Missouri incumbents from January 2013 through June 2014, listed in order of most fundraising to least.

Rep. Ann Wagner, District 2

- Raised: $1,876,091

- Cash on hand: $1,420,695

- Debts: $0

Rep. Jason Smith*, District 8

- Raised: $1,436,056

- Cash on hand: $218,985

- Debts: $0

Rep. Billy Long, District 7

- Raised: $938,666

- Cash on hand: $700,060

- Debts: $0

Rep. Sam Graves, District 6

-Raised: $923,969

- Cash on hand: $580,089

- Debts: $5,522

Rep. BlaineLuetkemeyer, District 3

- Raised: $840,799

- Cash on hand: $995,612

- Debts: $1,050,000

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, District 4

- Raised: $715,091

- Cash on hand: $564,527

- Debts: $0

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. District 5

- Raised: $665,502

- Cash on hand: $234,464

- Debts: $0

Rep. Lacy Clay, District 1

- Raised: $409,689

- Cash on hand: $269,133

- Debts: $0

* Smith won his House seat in a June 2013 special election; his totals reflect his fundraising and spending during that campaign.

Growing cost of congressional races

The median cost of a House race has inched up over the last decade, from $737,708 in 2002 to $1,178,004 in 2012, according to Vital Statistics on Congress, a joint research project by two Washington think tanks.

More than 100 House incumbents had at least $1 million in cash at the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission reports.