Zinke fundraising effort soars

HELENA — Republican U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke had a colossal fundraising quarter, raising more money over the past three months than Democrat John Lewis has collected throughout his entire campaign.

Zinke raised $1.93 million over the past three months compared with Lewis’ $393,000 over the same period and the $1.423 million that Lewis has raised since starting his campaign a year ago.

Zinke’s fundraising now totals $3.534 million for his entire campaign, which began last year.

In the all-important cash-on-hand category, Zinke had $490,791 left in the bank as of Sept. 30, compared with Lewis’ $261,350. That is money left to spend in the remaining weeks of the campaign.

On the spending side, Zinke spent $1.527 million over the last three months to Lewis’ $754,208,

For the entire campaign, Zinke has spent $3.043 million to Lewis’ $1.162 million.

Breaking down the total donations, Zinke has raised $3.067 million from individuals to Lewis’ $1.076 million.

Included in those individual donations are itemized donations from people giving at least $200.

Zinke had $1.922 million in itemized donations to Lewis’ $795,212.

The category also includes unitemized individual donations, or those giving less than $200. Zinke had $1.146 million in unitemized donations to Lewis’ $280,568.

Political party committees gave Lewis $14,998 and Zinke $4,519.

Other political party committees such as political action committees gave Lewis $329,375, while Zinke got $324,800 from PACs.