Texas: Edwards Has $1.3 Million

By Greg Giroux | January 28, 2010 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rep. Chet Edwards (D-Texas) is letting his Republican opponents know they'll have to cough up some cash if they want to take him on.

Edwards' campaign announced Thursday that it began this year with $1.3 million in its account after raising $275,000 in the final three months of 2009.

That is the most amount of money Edwards has ever banked at the top of an election year. He had $1 million in his account at the beginning of 2008; he won his 10th term that November with 53 percent of the vote, defeating little-known Republican Rob Curnock.

Curnock is one of five Republicans running in the March 2 primary for the right to take on Edwards in the Waco-area 17th district.

National GOP officials have made clear they prefer Bill Flores, a retired businessman. Flores last week reported that he raised $416,000 in the fourth quarter of 2009, including more than $300,000 from the candidate himself.

Edwards is a biennial target of Republican strategists who covet his 17th district, where John McCain (R-Ariz.) won two-thirds of the district vote in the 2008 presidential election.

Edwards and his other Republican challengers are required to file detailed campaign reports to the Federal Election Commission by Sunday.

CQ Politics presently rates the Texas 17 race as Likely Democratic.

To follow the 2010 House races, check out the CQ Politics election map

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