Jewish Candidates Help Bolster Democratic Fundraising In Swing Districts
Mike Levin said small donations have paid off for him in a big way. The Southern California Democrat is part of a slew of swing-district candidates whose strong fundraising numbers experts consider an indicator the party has a shot of retaking the House of Representatives in November.
Levin, whose father is Jewish and whose Catholic mother emigrated from Mexico, is sitting on a war chest of $2.6 million, having outraised his Republican counterpart, Diane Harkey, by more than three to one. And he has the broad backing of over 100,000 small donors who gave an average of $26 each.
“I feel like we have a ton of momentum. No one is going to outwork us,” the candidate said on July 20.
Candidacies like Levin’s are an example of powerful Democratic voter enthusiasm that has some respected analysts saying they have a solid chance at flipping the House. However, Republicans have their own advantages, including huge infusions of cash into several super PACs — political committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money, but can’t coordinate with candidates — from mega-donors like Jewish casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who gave $30 million to the GOP-linked Congressional Leadership Fund in May.
Levin is one of a crop of Democratic Jewish challengers in swing districts across the country who have significantly outraised their Republican counterparts, including several incumbents, in the last financial quarter, the Forward has found in a review of the latest crop of filings with the Federal Election Commission.
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