Tobias Schlingensiepen, left, is challenging U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins to represent Kansas' 2nd District in Congress.

Topeka ? Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins continued her advantage in fundraising over her Democratic challenger in the Kansas 2nd District race, according to documents filed this week.

Federal campaign reports show Jenkins had nearly $1.4 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 15. By comparison, Topeka pastor Tobias Schlingensiepen reported having $50,400 cash on hand.

Schlingensiepen collected contributions from nearly 700 individuals during the reporting period from July 19 through Sept. 30. He said none of the contributions were from Washington political action committees, and he has criticized Jenkins for accepting campaign funds from Washington PACs.

“We’re proud of our broad base of support and that we’ve raised as much money as we have in four months of campaigning and without sitting on a single committee in Congress,” Schlingensiepen said.

Jenkins’ report shows she took in nearly $82,000 from individual contributors and $191,500 from PACs representing a variety of interests, ranging from banking and financial services to gambling, manufacturing and utilities.

“Congresswoman Jenkins has always felt that if you take care of your business, politics will take care of itself,” said Jenkins’ campaign manager Bill Roe. “This recent financial report is like its predecessors. It continues to show consistent and broad support of the work Congresswoman Jenkins is doing on the behalf of eastern Kansans in Washington.”

The Jenkins campaign has refuted arguments by Schlingensiepen that Washington insiders have more access to the congresswoman through fundraisers and other activities than voters in Kansas. Roe said Thursday that Jenkins has had “thousands of Kansas donors” who continue to back the congresswoman and her efforts since she first won election in 2008.

The 2nd District was last held by a Democrat when Nancy Boyda defeated incumbent Republican Rep. Jim Ryun in 2006. She held on to the seat for just one term, losing to Jenkins in 2008. The district leans heavily for Republicans, though it became slightly more Democratic after the new boundaries were drawn in June.

The district covers all of eastern Kansas from the Nebraska border to the Oklahoma border, with the exception of the Kansas portion of the Kansas City metropolitan area.