List of lawmakers losing fundraising race is dominated by the scandal-plagued

The Office of Congressional Ethics found that Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and his staff may have been doing campaign work while on the government clock, among other things. Honda now trails his challenger, Ro Khanna, in fundraising. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Several incumbent lawmakers who are giving off the whiff of scandal have another worry on top of their legal woes: They aren’t keeping up with their challengers, many from within their own parties, in the fundraising arena.

Take Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), who’s facing a rematch against Ro Khanna, a former Obama administration official whom Honda defeated by less than 5,000 votes in 2014. The Office of Congressional Ethics says that Honda and his staffers “may have improperly tied official activities…to past or potential campaign or political support” and “may have used official resources to benefit his campaigns,” according to a Sept. 3 report by the nonpartisan, quasi-independent watchdog, which referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee.

Now, Honda is one of seven incumbents trailing their challengers in fundraising as of Sept. 30, federal records show, making his road to re-election especially perilous. So far, Khanna appears to be succeeding at rebuilding the glitzy Silicon Valley coalition that backed him against Honda in 2014; he raised $1.6 million in the first nine months of 2015, compared with Honda’s $989,507, and has a war chest twice as large as Honda’s.

In addition, much of Khanna’s money has come from individual donors, whose contributions are capped at $2,700 per person. By contrast, Honda has relied on PACs for $258,498 of his funds, possibly suggesting a less broad, engaged following.

But the long-serving Honda is tenacious, if not entrenched. All Khanna’s campaign masterminds and money couldn’t unseat the incumbent last time — despite raising slightly more money than he did. A Honda spokesman said that “Congressman Honda’s campaign is on track to raise the necessary resources to win this election.”

For some, fundraising was the problem in the first place

If Honda’s castle is built on stone, Rep. Frank Guinta‘s (R-N.H.) increasingly seems to have a foundation of sand. Plagued with a tarnished reputation after he admitted to the Federal Election Commission that he used illegal campaign contributions, Guinta now has to face not only several rivals from his own party but a Democratic challenger, Shawn O’Connor, who has more than twice as much money in the bank as Guinta. The Cook Political Report classifies his race as a tossup.

It’s not a rosy picture. But if O’Connor, an entrepreneur, hadn’t given his own campaign $1 million, the race might look slightly different. Guinta has raised more from individual contributors, $199,416 to O’Connor’s $153,870, and far outpaces O’Connor when it comes to PAC donations.

That’s the incumbent advantage: Guinta, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, has so far raised $153,452 from the finance, insurance and real estate sector’s collective PACs. All PAC contributions to Guinta, regardless of industry, total $344,446. O’Connor has raised just $1,500 from PACs; that’s typical of challengers, who seem like less compelling investments for companies and their lobbyists.

Still, Guinta has just $350,225 on hand — this year, he’s paid $30,000 in legal fees and a $15,000 fine to the Federal Election Commission from his campaign account.

He and Honda aren’t the only scandal-embroiled members who find themselves trailing their challengers in the money race. Rep. Scott Desjarlais (R-Tenn.), who has repeatedly won re-election despite multiple, documented extra-marital affairs, was outraised three-to-one by another Republican. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), also behind his challenger in fundraising, faced an Ethics Committee investigation in 2014 after an OCE investigation found he may have improperly paid a former staffer. The Ethics Committee has made no further public statements on the matter. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) was indicted in July; his primary opponent has only a slight lead in funds raised.

Two who lack the scandal cloud

Just two of the seven incumbents who have raised less than their challengers are without a legal cloud over them. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) isn’t in trouble with law enforcement or ethics investigators, though a staffer in his district office was charged with child sex crimes this year. Huelskamp trails his challenger slightly in fundraising.

Rep. Garrett Scott (R-N.J.) is the other. But Scott has a warchest to lean on, boasting $2.3 million cash on hand to deploy against Democratic challenger and prolific fundraiser Josh Gottheimer. (Scott’s alleged refusal to pay dues to the NRCC because of its willingness to support gay Republican candidates may have helped keep that number high.)

That gives him a buffer against Gottheimer’s $1 million haul as of Sept. 30, most of which came from individual donors. Gottheimer raised more than twice as much as Scott, but once again the incumbent also benefits from the preference of PACs for sitting lawmakers; they’ve given Scott $265,665 this year, with another $279,350 coming from individuals. Despite Gottheimer’s financial edge, the race leans Republican, according to the Cook Report.

The chart below shows how it can pay to be an incumbent, especially for Guinta, Honda and Scott. Their war chests are relatively full, and their PAC money makes up for their troubles with individual donors. (The first two columns of figures indicate funds raised this year Jan. 1-Sept. 30, 2015; challengers are listed first in each pairing, followed by incumbents.)