Alabama U.S. House members sit on six-figure warchests with little competition

Second quarter campaign finance reports are in, and each of Alabama’s seven incumbent U.S. House members are sitting on six-figure campaign accounts with little competition.

Third term Republican Rep. Mo Brooks has the biggest war chest of the bunch with more than $1.1 million in cash-on-hand as of June 30.

Brooks didn’t face a Republican primary challenger this cycle, so he is set to cruise into another term over with his only opposition coming from Democrat Willie Boyd, who had just $1,772 in his campaign account through the end of the quarter.

Though Brooks has the most on-hand cash of the Alabama delegation, the Congressional District 5 representative only brought in about $130,000 for the quarter — far less than most of his colleagues.

Rep. Terri Sewell, Alabama’s lone Democratic member of Congress, showed $921,028 in the bank through the end of the second quarter. Her report includes $323,258 in contributions, $113,000 of which came from individuals, and about $180,000 in expenditures.

CD 6 Rep. Gary Palmer finished the three-month reporting period with about $840,000 on hand after raising $140,000 and spending about $80,000 between April 1 and June 30. His lone challenger, Democrat David Putnam, finished the quarter $21 in the red.

Alabama’s other four House members are hovering around the $400,000 mark in cash-on-hand.

CD 3 Rep. Mike Rogers finished the quarter with $452,000 in the bank after raising $165,000 and spending about $86,000, followed by CD 1 Rep. Bradley Byrne, who raised $134,000 and spent $124,000 to finish Q2 with an on-hand total of about $446,000. CD 4 Rep. Robert Aderholt put up a similar performance with $120,000 raised and $37,000 spent to finish with about $397,000 in the bank.

All three candidates are set to return to the House with little to no opposition, as is the case for CD 2 Rep. Martha Roby, though the incumbent has spent $215,000 since she won the Republican primary for her fourth term.

Roby offsets the expenditures with just $56,000 in contributions to finish the quarter with a little over $396,000 in her campaign account.