Kari Lake's campaign reports $308,000 in debt. Here are more Senate fundraising takeaways

U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake ended her first fundraising quarter with six figures of debt, and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was again outraised by her colleague Sen. Mark Kelly, who isn’t running for another four years.

Arizona’s U.S. Senate race figures to be among the most closely watched in the country due to the possibility of a rare, three-way contest with control of the chamber resting on a few key seats.

Wednesday’s campaign finance reporting deadline gave us a clearer view of the race at the start of the election year.

Here are five takeaways from the latest reports.

Kari Lake starts out with $308,000 in debt

Lake’s campaign released her fundraising totals earlier last month and noted she was among the best-funded Republican challengers running this cycle.

What they didn’t say is that she ended the quarter with $308,000 in debt to five companies they used to raise money.

The debt isn't late, but it does make her $1 million in cash seem smaller on closer inspection.

Apart from the debt, Lake’s campaign was built on a lot of small-dollar donors, which is generally viewed as a sign of broad support.

About 44% of her money from individuals came from people who gave her less than $200.

In comparison, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., the only prominent Democrat in the Senate race, got about 46% of his money in the first quarter from those who could chip in a lot more if they wanted to.

Kari Lake's finances: She got six-figure pay from company once led by former ex-GOP chair

Kyrsten Sinema’s slim support fuels doubts about reelection bid

Sinema, I-Ariz., hasn’t said whether she plans to run for a second six-year term, but her fundraising continues to raise doubts if she can realistically compete in a race that could draw more than $300 million in spending.

In the last quarter, she raised only $595,000 — her worst three-month total in three years — and Kelly, D-Ariz., who won’t be on the ballot again until 2028, nearly doubled her total.

Sinema’s fundraising was paltry compared with all five other Senate races involving incumbents facing what are considered to be difficult reelection bids.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., raised $3 million in the last quarter. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., pulled in $3.2 million. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., took in $3.7 million. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., collected $5.5 million. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, raised $6.6 million.

Those totals underscore what campaigns gearing up for tough races are bringing in and involve senators also working in Washington.

Ruben Gallego's 'burn' rate is high

Gallego continues to lead the pack in fundraising in Arizona’s race, but his campaign is spending much of what it takes in each quarter.

Throughout 2023, when he was a Senate candidate, Gallego’s campaign had total receipts of $13.3 million and it had total expenditures of $8 million. Expenses consumed about 60% of what it raised from all sources.

That’s higher than Sinema’s 55% and Lake’s 49%.

It’s also higher than the five other incumbent Democrats who face uphill reelection campaigns.

Tester’s campaign is fractionally lower than Gallego’s. Baldwin is at 57%. Brown, Casey and Rosen are each well below 50%.

Gallego’s $6.5 million in cash on hand is markedly lower than any of those other campaigns that involve Senate incumbents.

Mark Kelly has Lake on his mind

Kelly is arguably the safest politico in Arizona after winning reelection in 2022 in an environment considered difficult for Democrats.

His prodigious fundraising has continued and he’s using Lake as a way to stockpile even more cash.

A recent fundraising appeal from Kelly’s campaign tied Lake to former President Donald Trump, calling her “Arizona’s own election denier and relentless promoter of Trump’s Big Lie.”

But Kelly’s campaign isn’t asking donors to give to Gallego, who could face Lake in November. Kelly’s asking donors to give to his campaign to help him stop Lake and Trump.

It comes as Kelly continues to work with Sinema in the Senate, where Democrats have a narrow majority and don’t want to alienate her while her future remains hazy. At the same time, other Senate Democrats still haven’t officially backed Gallego.

By contrast, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb is challenging Lake for the GOP nomination, but Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who is in party leadership, has already endorsed her. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reportedly told colleagues last year Lake will be the party’s nominee, so they should help her out.

Mark Lamb’s campaign is struggling

Lamb’s fundraising at the end of 2023 was his worst yet. His campaign pulled in just $265,000.

During the period that Lake formally entered the race and became the Republican front-runner, his campaign raised less, spent less and hoarded less cash than in the previous quarter.

Lake received boos at last week’s annual state Republican Party meeting, a sign that she hasn’t consolidated complete support within the GOP, at least for the moment. But Lamb’s fundraising and generally low visibility suggest he will struggle to capitalize on any discontent over Lake as the Republican nominee.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake's campaign is $308K in debt and other fundraising takeaways