Terri Sewell, Gary Palmer lead delegation in second quarter fundraising

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Campaign Finance_Capitol Money
Fundraising data through the end of June is out for U.S. Representatives and Senators and CD 7 Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell is leading the Alabama delegation with a $1.2 million on hand.
Sewell, the lone Democrat in the delegation, has raised $379,000 in 2017, including $318,000 from committees and $60,000 from individuals.
Sewell got $5,000 checks from the USAA PAC and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC, as well as a host of $2,500 contributions from various committees across the country.
Campaign spending clocked in at about $150,000, including $10,500 to DC-based Angerholzer Broz Consulting for fundraising fees. Her campaign also spent $3,300 at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta.
Second behind Sewell in cash on hand is Gary Palmer with $906,000.
The second-term Republican congressman has brought in a little over $391,000 since the beginning of the year, including $65,000 from individuals, and $70,750 from committees and a little over $250,000 in transfers from authorized committees.
The campaign has spent about $105,000 this year, much of it on consulting.
Birmingham-based MDM27 Holdings got $20,000 of that money for fundraising consulting, The Lollar Group got $8,700 for media consulting, and the Capitol Hill Club got about $6,500 for catering. The Palmer campaign also racked up a $1,000 Uber bill in February.
Following Palmer is Mike Rogers, who has $740,000 in the bank after raising $373,000 and spending $158,000 through the first half of the year.
AT&T and Lockheed Martin each chipped in $4,000 for his re-election, while like many other Alabama Republicans, he took home $5,000 a piece from Prosperity Action and the Alabama Power Co. Employees PAC.
Rogers has put a lot of his campaign spending onto his American Express, which covered more than $30,000 of expenses including airfare, catering, advertising, tech support and postage. Dax Swatek & Associates also took home $7,500 from the Republican congressman for fundraising consulting.
Robert Aderholt takes the middle position among the delegation with $632,000 on hand, after bringing in $228,000 and spending $62,000 so far in 2017.
Donors at the $5,000 level included The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association PAC, Dynetics PAC, Radiance Technologies PAC and the American Dental Association PAC.
Like Rogers, Aderholt used a credit card to cover a lot of the day-to-day campaign expenses. About $46,000 in expenses were piled onto his Citi Card, with an additional $12,500 spent on a fundraiser at the Four Seasons.
Over in CD 1, Bradley Byrne cruised through the beginning of the year with $215,000 in contributions to end the June with about $511,000 in the bank.
His receipts included $5,000 checks from Prosperity Action, TACO PAC, Intel Corporation PAC and Associated Builders and Contractors, among others.
A large chunk of his $150,000 in spending went to The Gula Graham Group for fundraising consulting, while the National Republican Congressional Committee got a $17,100 transfer from the congressman’s campaign.
CD 2 Congresswoman Martha Roby has added nearly $330,000 since the beginning of the year, but after $158,000 in spending she has $217,000 in the bank.
Major donors included professional services firm Deloitte, Associated Builders and Contractors and the American Crystal Sugar Company, each of which gave $5,000.
Spending included $27,400 to the Alexandria Virginia-based Townsend Group for fundraising consulting and $10,000 to Michigan-based firm Advictory for advertising.
Nobody has truly emerged as a true financial front runner in CD 5, which U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks would vacate if he beat out Luther Strange to represent Alabama in the Senate.
The seat remains the Yellowhammer state’s best option for new blood in the House, but so far Robert Cramer has $10,900 in the bank, while Peter Joffrion has about $5,000 on hand. The two Republicans brought in all their cash from individual contributors.