Incumbent Oklahoma delegation holds big financial advantage over opponents 

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Most of Oklahoma’s Congressional incumbents are out-fundraising and out-spending their opponents during the final stretch of the campaign.

Why it matters: Candidates campaign committee’s pre-general election filings, disclosing contributions and expenditures from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16, offer an insight into the campaign’s strategy in the final weeks of the campaign. 

Key takeaways on Oklahoma incumbent advantage:

Incumbents out-raised their challengers by nearly 3 times from Oct 1. to Oct. 16. During the same time period, they outspent their challengers by nearly 11 times.

• Rep. Tom Cole (R-Moore) is spending nearly as fast as he is raising funds. Close to a third of his donations are over $1,000. His challenger, Democrat Mary Brannon, has dropped off of the fundraising map. The donation page on her campaign website states her campaign is “not currently accepting any donations.”
• Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Oklahoma City) is focused on advertising during the final weeks of the campaign. Her campaign has paid BrabenderCox, a political marketing firm based in Virginia, $281,856 for media. Her opponent, Democrat Madison Horn, has also focused on getting her message out, she spent $4,620 on digital messaging in two weeks. 
• Horn received 702 donations totaling $18,706 during the two weeks; 582 from small donors for $100 or less. Bice received 88, totaling $62,990; 28 for over $1,000.
• Democrat Dennis Baker is out-fundraising Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Tulsa). Nonetheless, Hern has been outspending Baker. However, most of Hern’s spending has been on fundraising services.
• Oklahoma Incumbent Rep. Josh Brecheen’s (R-Ada) fundraising was dwarfed by his fellow incumbents. Overall, very little funding has flowed into the race for the Second Congressional District. 

Context:

Nearly $11 million has been raised by the eight remaining candidates for Oklahoma’s 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Congressional districts throughout the campaign cycle, including the primaries. Almost $9.4 million has been spent by the general election candidates. 

• Incumbents are out-raising their challengers 11 times. 
• Incumbents are out-spending their challengers 13 times. 
• Brannon and Democrat Brandon Wade have raised less than $15,000 and spent less than $10,000 in total.

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Kevin Eagleson is reporting from Gaylord News’ Washington bureau this fall as part of an OU Daily scholarship. 

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more stories by Gaylord News go to GaylordNews.net