2010’s Self-Financed Candidates

It’s their election and they’ll buy if they want to.

Paul Kitagaki Jr./Zumapress.com

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Will these self-financed House and Senate challengers crash the party?

Senate

AMOUNT SELF-FINANCED / % OF TOTAL FUNDRAISING

Linda McMahon (R)
Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO, grappling for Connecticut’s open seat
$22.1 million/99.9%

Jeff Greene
Forbes 400 member, one of two Dems in the race for Florida
Sen. Mel Martinez’s old seat
$5.9 million/99.9%

Carly Fiorina (R)
Former HP CEO taking on Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
$5.5 million/52%

William Binnie
Head of Carlisle Capital, up against “mama grizzly
Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire GOP primary
$3.6 million/75%

David Malpass
GOPer hoping to challenge
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
$2.5 million/89%

 

House

AMOUNT SELF-FINANCED / % OF TOTAL RAISED

Tom Ganley (R)
CEO of Ohio’s largest chain of car dealerships, running against Rep. Betty Sutton (D)
$3.5 million/94%

George Flinn
Owner of Flinn Broadcasting, Tennesee Republican
$2.9 million/93%

Randy Altschuler (R)
Electronics recycler hopes to challenge New York Rep. Timothy Bishop (D)
$2 million/71%

Wink Hartman (R)
Owner of Hartman Oil, running in Kansas’ open 4th district
$1.6 million/92%

Rudolph Moise
Doctor and 1 of 11 Dems competing for Florida’s 17th
$1 million/70%

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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