(April 17, 2010)—This November, two of three of southern Maryland's federal political seats will be decided by election—the U.S. House of Representatives seat for District 5 and one of the two U.S. Senate seats. Incumbents and challengers are busy building their campaign coffers to pay for their campagn staff, expenses and advertising.
The incumbent in the House, Steny Hoyer, D-Mechanicsville, raised $424,600 in the first quarter of 2010, bringing his cash-on-hand total to nearly $1.5 million. Hoyer's most prominent challenger, Republican Charles Lollar from Charles County, got a bit of a morale boost by breaking $100,000 in fundraising for the whole cycle.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D, who's facing a crowded field of six Republican candidates, raised $850,000 in the first quarter, giving her $2.7 million in cash on hand. Campaign finance information wasn't yet available for her challengers.
Tiffany March of Capital News Service contributed to this report.