photo by: Peter Hancock

Lawrence Democrat Paul Davis officially kicked off his campaign for the 2nd District congressional seat during a series of rallies Tuesday, starting with one in Topeka where about 100 supporters turned out.

Democrat Paul Davis raised more money in the last quarter than all of his Republican opponents combined, according to campaign finance reports for the Kansas 2nd Congressional District race that were filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Although Davis’ report had not been posted on the FEC website by Monday afternoon, his campaign emailed a copy of it to the Journal-World. It showed Davis raised $408,649.58 during the third quarter of the year, July 1 – Sept. 30. Davis did not officially get into the race until Aug. 15, so all of that money was raised during a 45-day period.

That compares to roughly $357,000 raised by the entire Republican field during that same period. Possibly as a result of that, the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan political handicapping website, changed its rating of the 2nd District on Friday from “Likely Republican” to “Leans Republican.”

Davis had announced his campaign totals last week, but his campaign would not provide copies of it until the reports were posted by the FEC.

Of that amount, 83 percent, or nearly $340,000, came from individual contributions while 15 percent, or $60,500, came from political action committees. Davis also made a small in-kind contribution to his own campaign, which a spokeswoman described as the value of an email list he brought with him from his unsuccessful 2014 campaign for governor.

Republican Sen. Steve Fitzgerald of Leavenworth raised the most money in the GOP field, taking in $166,004.98, according to his report. That included $100,000 in loans that he made to his own campaign. Virtually all of the remaining money came from individual contributions.

Republican Sen. Caryn Tyson appeared to be the next largest GOP fundraiser, although her report had not been posted by the FEC as of Monday afternoon. In a telephone interview, she said she raised a little more than $150,000 during the quarter. Details about how much came from individuals, PACs and loans from the candidate were not available.

Former Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary Antonio Soave, who formally entered the race Sept. 14, raised $31,425 during the reporting period. All of that came from individual contributions.

Basehor City Councilman Vernon J. Fields took in $2,980 in individual contributions during the quarter and loaned $6,785.52 to his campaign out of his own pocket.