Cartwright again tops Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation raising $1.68 million in Q2

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright D-8th District (U.S. House photo)

For the second quarter in a row, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-8th District) raised more money than any other member of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation. 

Cartwright’s campaign raised $1.68 million from April 4 to the end of June, according to the latest campaign finance records. In the previous quarter his campaign raised $1.38 million in the first three months of the year, which also led the state’s congressional delegation. 

In addition to raising the most in the first two quarters of 2024, his campaign has raised more than any other Pennsylvania incumbent and candidate for the U.S. House this cycle and has the most cash on hand. 

Cartwright’s campaign has raised $5.66 million in the election cycle to date and entered July with $4.53 million on hand. At this point in the previous cycle, Cartwright had $2.73 million on hand.

Cartwright will face Republican Rob Bresnahan, a businessman, in November. Neither candidate for the seat in Northeast Pennsylvania faced a challenger in the April 23 primary election.

Bresnahan raised $1.13 million between April 4 and June 30, which includes a $400,000 loan he gave to his campaign. His campaign has raised $2.56 million in the election cycle to date, which is more than any other non-incumbent U.S. House candidate in Pennsylvania this election, although Bresnahan loaned the campaign $1.2 million of that total.

Bresnahan’s campaign has significantly outspent Cartwright over the last three months. His campaign spent $1.13 million in the quarter, which is more than any other congressional candidate in the state over the last three months, while Cartwright’s campaign spent just under $295,000. As of July 1, Bresnahan’s campaign has $1.22 million cash on hand, which is the second highest among Pennsylvania non-incumbent candidates, only trailing Democrat Ashley Ehasz, who’s running against U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in PA-01. 

The 8th Congressional District is once again in the spotlight in 2024. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) placed the race in its initial seats to flip list last year, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) also put Cartwright in its “Frontline Program,” intended to protect vulnerable House Democrats.

Former President Donald Trump, who was officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention on Monday, carried the boundaries of the 8th Congressional District in 2016 and 2020. Cartwright is the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation to represent a district that Trump won.

President Joe Biden, whose childhood home of Scranton is in the 8th District, visited the region in April. Trump, who has made appearances in Northeast Pennsylvania in previous campaigns and held a rally in the district just a few days before the 2020 presidential election, has not visited the region yet this year. Trump held a rally just south of the district in the Lehigh Valley in April.

A pair of national ratings outlets, the Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, label the 8th Congressional District race as a “toss-up.”

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