Whether or not he’s publicly committed to running for another term in Congress, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso is raising a lot of money for a potential 2024 campaign.
So far in 2023, Barrasso has raised more than $2 million, a substantial sum for a non-election year. It also exceeds the $1.8 million Barrasso generated in 2021 and 2022 combined.
Barrasso hasn’t officially announced he is running for reelection in 2024, but has given no signs of letting off the gas when it comes to fundraising.
During his last election campaign in 2018 and the year leading up to it, Barrasso raised a combined $5.6 million, with more than half that raised in 2017, according to campaign filing reports.
Barrasso has spent $616,517 so far in 2023.
What’s It For?
Barrasso has a lot at stake when it comes to the upcoming election, not only in his bid for a fourth elected term, but also a shot at a top Senate leadership position.
Barrasso, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2007, is considered one of the top contenders to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, as top Republican leader in the Senate. Barrasso now holds the No. 3 position in the Republican Senate as chair of the Senate Republican Conference.
Barrasso remains competitive with his top challengers for McConnell’s chair in terms of fundraising.
Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, has raised $1.09 million this year, but has $17.4 million in the bank. Barrasso has a smaller sum of $6.3 million cash in hand.
A political action committee working on behalf of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the former Senate whip, has raised $6.9 million this year and he has $2.1 million in the bank.
Barrasso so far only has one challenger in his 2024 Wyoming Republican primary in Reid Rasner, a financial advisor and Casper native. Through Sept. 30, Rasner had raised $19,930 for his campaign after about six weeks of fundraising.
I Help You, You Help Me
Through the first half of the year, Barrasso’s PAC Common Values raised nearly $250,000 to support other Senate Republicans like J.D. Vance of Ohio, Rick Scott of Florida, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Indiana congressman Jim Banks’ bid for Senate.
According to Punchbowl News, Thune also has raised more than $5 million for the National Republican Senatorial Committee this year. He announced at a party meeting last week that he’d committed $250,000 toward paying off the remaining $500,000 of the NRSC’s debt, which was quickly met with contributions from Barrasso and Cornyn.
McConnell is largely expected to not run again for Senate Republican leadership amid ongoing concerns about his health. His seat will be open again after the 2024 election.
The corporations that have donated to Barrasso’s campaign is a little like reading off a Fortune Magazine who’s who list.
Some notables include Comcast ($10,500), The Home Depot ($10,000), Halliburton ($10,000), Koch Industries ($10,000), Marathon Petroleum ($9,000), Deloitte ($7,000), Hewlett Packard ($5,000), Dell Technologies ($5,000), Conoco Phillips ($5,000), Honeywell ($5,000), Caterpillar ($5,000), Phillips 66 ($5,000), Wells Fargo ($5,000), Berkshire Hathaway ($5,000), Merck ($5,000), Goldman Sachs ($4,000), Boeing ($1,500) and Prudential Financial ($1,500).
What About Lummis And Hageman?
Sen. Cynthia Lummis isn’t up for reelection until 2026 and hasn’t been fundraising with the same fervor as Barrasso, raising $179,702 this year, campaign filings show. The only major corporations to donate to Lummis were BNSF Railway ($5,000) and UBS ($5,000).
Rep. Harriet Hageman will also face a 2024 reelection bid but has no official challengers yet. She’s had a successful 2023 so far, raising $1.1 million.
One of Hageman’s largest donors has been Bondurant billionaire Joe Ricketts, who gave her $9,900.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
