JUNEAU — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski brought in nearly $1.1 million toward her re-election bid in the latest quarter.
A summary of her disclosure report, released by her campaign Wednesday, shows she had nearly $2.3 million available at the end of June. At this point during her last campaign, she had close to $1.1 million available.
Her campaign described her fundraising efforts in a news release as moving at a “historic pace” for a U.S. Senate candidate in Alaska.
Murkowski is up for re-election next year. She filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission but there are no candidates listed yet on the state Division of Elections website.
Murkowski’s campaign coordinator, Scott Kendall, chalked up her fundraising levels to lessons learned during her 2010 campaign and the current political landscape, in which third-party groups can spend heavily on a race.
In 2010, Murkowski was upset in the Republican primary by tea party favorite Joe Miller. She came back to win with a write-in campaign.
“Having to win a write-in is not a model,” Kendall said in an interview, adding that the campaign is working harder, much earlier.
The campaign is preparing as though it is in “for the fight of our lives. And if we’re not and no one runs, wonderful, but that’s not our expectation,” he said.
Last year’s U.S. Senate race between then-Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and Republican Dan Sullivan attracted a flood of outside money because it had the potential to impact control of the Senate. Sullivan won.
