Local News

The Seattle Times political team explores national, state and local politics.

Suzan DelBene dropped $1 million of her own money into campaign, giving her a huge edge in advertising spending as a host of Democrats jostle toward toward the Aug. 7 primary in the hot 1st Congressional District race.

FEC quarterly reports filed this weekend, which cover fundraising and expenses April through June, show fellow Democrat Darcy Burner, a progressive activist, raised $178,119 in the past three months, much of it in small donations via the Act Blue online network. Laura Ruderman, a former state legislator, raised $128,926, but has the most cash-on-hand.

The campaign, the most-watched among the state’s Congressional campaigns, took a nasty turn with anti-DelBene mailings last week by a group we know was funded by Ruderman’s mother. Here is a post on that.

DelBene, a former Microsoft vice president, was expected to self-finance her run as she did in a 2010 run against Rep. Dave Reichert. In addition to her $1 million, DelBene took in $182,572 from other contributors. Her campaign reports spending $728,000 on TV ads and about $240,000 on six mailed pieces.

State Sen. Steve Hobbs, the centrist Democrat from Lake Stevens, hadn’t filed his report as of this morning. Darshan Rauniyar, a businessman and first-time candidate, raised $30,562, with support from his Nepalese countrymen.

John Koster, the only Republican in the 1st District race, raised $115,120 this quarter, and $428,579 toal. He has mostly stayed out of the fray, and is expected to easily advance to the November general election, but has a relatively small amount of cash on hand: $115,632.