Nelson: $1.6m in Q1, $9.5m cash on hand

Posted Apr 11, 2012 by William March

Updated Apr 11, 2012 at 12:53 PM

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson raised $1.6 million for his re-election campaign in the first three months of 2012, and has $9.5 million in cash in his campaign account, he announced today.

That puts Nelson, a Democrat who faces re-election in November, far ahead of his potential GOP opponents, who are now embroiled in a primary.

The Republican fundraising leader, Connie Mack IV, was competitive with Nelson in his first-quarter fundraising, with more than $1 million, according to his announcement last week, but still has only $1.3 million on hand after announcing his campaign late last year.

George LeMieux, competing with Mack, hasn’t announced fundraising numbers for the first quarter, but had $1.2 million cash on hand as of the end of 2011. Less well known that Mack, LeMieux raised more than $1 million his first fundraising period as a candidate, the second quarter of 2011, but then had two successive quarters of less than $500,000 each.