Texas Democrat McDonald Raises $634,000 Against Rep. McCaul

By Greg Giroux | July 7, 2009 12:30 PM | | Comments (0)

It might be 16 months before the 2010 election, but it seems clear that the race in Texas' 10th District, where three-term Republican Rep. Michael McCaul is seeking re-election, will be among the most expensive of the election cycle.

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Democratic challenger Jack McDonald raised $322,000 in this year's second quarter, his exploratory campaign said Tuesday, and has taken in $634,000 a little more than four months after he organized a committee with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). He has more than $550,000 cash-on-hand, his campaign said.

Except for $1,000 from political action committees, McDonald raised all of his second-quarter funds from individual donors. An individual can give $2,400 to a federal candidate for a primary campaign and another $2,400 for a general election campaign.

Congressional candidates are required to file detailed campaign reports with the FEC by July 15, and McDonald's take will be among the highest for non-incumbent House candidates -- if not the highest.

That doesn't necessarily mean that Texas' 10th will be among the nation's most competitive House races, but Democrats think that McDonald, a technology executive, will be a stronger candidate than 2008 nominee Larry Joe Doherty, a lawyer who raised and spent about $1.2 million in losing to McCaul by 54 percent to 43 percent. McCaul spent $1.7 million on that race.

Texas' 10th has a generic Republican lean, backing John McCain over Barack Obama by 55 percent to 44 percent. The district's share of Travis County (Austin) is very Democratic-leaning and its larger portion of Harris County (Houston) is very strongly Republican-leaning.

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Categories: House, Texas

Tags: Doherty, McCaul, McDonald

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