Rashida Tlaib, Bill Wild lead fundraising in Detroit's congressional race

Todd Spangler | Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON — Among a crowded field to replace U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Rashida Tlaib looked to be way ahead in terms of fundraising as of the end of last month.

Tlaib, a former state representative, is one of six Democrats running in the Aug. 7 primary to replace Conyers, who stepped down last December. In the predominately Democratic Detroit-based district, whoever wins the primary is expected to be the overwhelming favorite in November’s general election.

Campaign finance reports filed Sunday showed Tlaib having raised some $304,000 between April and June for a total of $893,030 since entering the race. As of June 30, she had spent some $130,000 on digital and radio ads — and still had some $219,000 left in her campaign account.

As for the other candidates in the 13th congressional district, Westland Mayor Bill Wild — the only candidate in the race who doesn’t live in Detroit — was runner-up to Tlaib in terms of fundraising during the second quarter, with just under $253,000 in contributions. Overall, he’s raised nearly $400,000 since entering the race and had about $100,000 cash on hand as of June 30.

Two others expected to do well in the August primary trailed those two: Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones — who has received Mayor Mike Duggan’s endorsement as well as that of several labor organizations — raised $128,410 in the second quarter, more than $30,000 of which was in contributions from union committees including the United Brotherhood of Carpenters union and the UAW. She had $167,837 overall and $53,731 cash on hand.

And state Sen. Ian Conyers — Conyers’ grand-nephew — raised about $93,000 for a total of $181,570. He had just over $61,000 in his account heading into the last month of the race.

Meanwhile, neither John Conyers III — the congressman’s son, who was tossed off the Democratic ballot for a lack of valid signatures, but who may run an independent campaign — nor former state Rep. Shanelle Jackson of Detroit had reports immediately available via the Federal Election Commission. State Sen. Coleman Young II reported raising $15,228 — $6,000 of which was in a loan to himself — in the last quarter, but his campaign shows an arrearage of more than $27,000 in bills.

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A trend the Free Press has previously reported continued with women candidates continuing to lead several races in terms of fundraising: In the 8th congressional district, Democrat Elissa Slotkin, a former Pentagon official, raised $1.15 million in the three-month period compared to $589,000 for the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. Overall Slotkin — who faces professor Chris Smith (who raised $46,072 on the quarter and has about $42,000 cash on hand) in the Democratic primary — has raised $2.9 million to Bishop’s $2.2 million and has about $600,000 more than he does in the bank.

Meanwhile, former state Rep. Gretchen Driskell, D-Saline, raised $408,000 compared to $305,000 for U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, in the race for the 7th congressional district. Walberg still leads her in terms of overall fundraising ($1.54 million to $1.28 million) and cash on hand ($1.15 million to about $900,000) but the gap is narrowing.

In the race to replace U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, in the 9th district, former state Rep. Ellen Lipton of Huntington Woods added some $541,000 to her campaign coffers, compared to $353,000 for her chief opponent, Levin’s son, Andy Levin. Levin topped her in individual and PAC contributions for the quarter ($353,000 to $251,000) but Lipton also loaned her campaign nearly $290,000 as well. Even so, she went into July with a cash advantage of $625,375 to $430,748 for Levin, despite his being perceived by many as the frontrunner. (Attorney Martin Brook trailed both, having raised just $8,300 in the quarter and having $17,200 in the bank.)

State Rep. Klint Kesto of Commerce Township led the fundraising in the three-month period in the five-person Republican field to replace U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham, in the 11th congressional district with $166,440 but had just under $20,000 in cash on hand by the end of the quarter. Businesswoman Lena Epstein, meanwhile, who raised $143,000 on the quarter and $1.6 million overall ($990,000 of it in loans to her own campaign), was still in the best financial position with nearly $660,000 in cash on hand. State Sen. Mike Kowall of White Lake raised $114,284 on the quarter for about $272,000 overall and $137,696 in cash on hand.

led the fundraising in the three-month period in the five-person Republican field to replace U.S. Rep. Dave Trott, R-Birmingham, in the 11th congressional district with $166,440 but had just under $20,000 in cash on hand by the end of the quarter. Businesswoman Lena Epstein, meanwhile, who raised $143,000 on the quarter and $1.6 million overall ($990,000 of it in loans to her own campaign), was still in the best financial position with nearly $660,000 in cash on hand. State Sen. Mike Kowall of White Lake raised $114,284 on the quarter for about $272,000 overall and $137,696 in cash on hand. And in the race for the Democratic nomination to replace Trott (in what many pundits believe could be a toss-up race), entrepreneur Suneel Gupta added about $407,000 to extend his overall fundraising to $1.34 million, though $150,000 of that was in a loan to himself. He had nearly $800,000 in cash on hand, far more than the rest of the field. Meanwhile, state Rep. Tim Greimel of Auburn Hills, raised $262,000 to bring his total to $815,322, with $456,380 in cash on hand. Former Obama administration staffer Haley Stevens raised $166,189 to bring her total to just over $1 million and had $340,212 left, though her campaign noted she made a large TV buy of $240,000 earlier in the quarter. Fayrouz Saad, a former staffer for Duggan, raised about $121,000 — bringing her total to about $636,000 — and had some $314,000 in cash on hand.

Contact Todd Spangler at 703-854-8947 or at tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @tsspangler.