California Governor Jerry Brown is leaving his potential Republican challengers in the dust when it comes to raising money for next year’s election.
Newly-released fundraising totals show the Democratic governor ended the first half of 2013 with more than 10 million dollars in the bank. None of his challengers has raised even $50,000 dollars.
Republican political consultant Beth Miller says Brown’s fundraising advantage and 54 percent approval rating in a new poll show he’ll be hard to beat next fall.
“If you want to amass a lot of money and scare away potential challenges, Jerry Brown’s doing a pretty good job sitting on $10 million more than a year out,” says Miller.
Among Republicans, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly has $27,000. And former Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado has just under $45,000 – though he owes about $3,000 more than that.
Former Bush Treasury Department official Neel Kashkari is also considering a gubernatorial campaign, but he hasn’t started raising money yet.
