Two months ahead of the June 28 Democratic Congressional primary, Anna Throne-Holst’s campaign war chest is more than $200,000 richer than opponent Dave Calone, according to campaign finance disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission Friday.
But both Democrats trail first-term incumbent Republican Lee Zeldin, who faces no primary challenge in his run for re-election. The Shirley Republican reported cash on hand of $1,733,629 as of April 15, while Throne-Holst reported a balance of $1,114,948 and Dave Calone said he had $906,529 in the bank. See reports here: Zeldin – Throne-Holst – Calone
The reports cover the period from Jan. 1 through March 31.
The Calone campaign’s balance sheet includes a $250,000 loan the candidate made to his campaign during a prior reporting period this cycle and $15,199 in contributions of his own funds. Neither Throne-Holst nor Zeldin have contributed personal funds or made loans to their campaigns, according to reports on file with the FEC.
Throne-Holst led Calone in fundraising this quarter, with $305,821 in contributions to Calone’s $203,554. Again, the incumbent Zeldin outpaced them both, reporting $471,421 in contributions during the same period.
Contributions so far in this election cycle:
Zeldin $2,643,263
Throne-Holst $1,461,016
Calone $1,143,926
The race for the First Congressional District seat is so far one of the 10 most expensive of the 435 contests for House seats, according to the watchdog website OpenSecrets.
Zeldin has already exceeded his total fundraising of $2,580,307 in the 2014 election, when he defeated six-term incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop, who raised $3,020,539, by 10 percentage points.
Zeldin dwarfs the two Democrats in contributions from political action committees and unions. He reports receiving $892,547 from PACs and unions in this election cycle. Throne-Holst reports $81,157 in PAC and union contributions, and Calone reports PAC/union receipts of $72,900 this cycle.
None of the candidates has so far been the beneficiary — or target — of the independent expenditure committees, the so-called Super PACs which are spending tens of millions in the presidential primary campaigns and a select number of U.S. Senate and House races.
In a statement issued Friday night, Zeldin’s campaign spokesperson Jennifer DiSiena said while he remains focused on his work in Congress, “it is clear that when the time comes to campaign, Congressman Zeldin will have the resources necessary to successfully deliver his message to pursue a new era of American strength.”
About the candidates
Zeldin, 36, grew up in Shirley, where he lives today, is a lawyer and Army reservist who served a tour of duty overseas in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds degrees from SUNY Albany and Albany Law School. Zeldin first ran for Congress in 2008 — his first run for any political office. Then-incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop defeated him 58 to 42 percent. Zeldin ran for State Senate in 2010 and unseated freshman Sen. Brian Foley (D-Blue Point). Zeldin was re-elected to the State Senate seat in 2012 (56 to 44 percent). He challenged Bishop again in 2014 and won by 10 percentage points, running on the Republican and Conservative lines.
The two Democrats vying for the chance to face Zeldin in the November election have very different backgrounds.
Throne-Holst, 55, of Noyac, is a Swedish immigrant who came to the United States with her parents when she was 15. She was a founder of the Hayground School and former director of the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreation Center before running for councilwoman in the Town of Southampton in 2007. Unaffiliated with a political party, she ran on the Democratic line. She served on a town board of four Republicans and two years later, in the middle of her four-year term, challenged and defeated the incumbent town supervisor. She was re-elected twice to the supervisor’s seat and decided against running for a third term to pursue her current run for Congress. Throne-Holst changed her party enrollment from blank to Democrat prior to the current campaign.
Calone, 42, of Setauket, grew up on the North Shore of Brookhaven Town, and is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. He is a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Justice Department and founder of Jove Equity Partners, a venture capital firm that helps start and build technology companies. In 2008 he was tapped by County Executive Steve Bellone to chair the Suffolk County Planning Commission, a volunteer post in which he served for seven years before resigned to pursue his bid for Congress.
About the First Congressional District
The sprawling eastern Suffolk Congressional District, with a population of 725,932, stretches from Islip and Smithtown on the west to the tips of the twin forks. It includes a small portion of Islip, most of Smithtown, and the entirety of the towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southold, Southampton, East Hampton, and Shelter Island. Median household income in the First CD $84,668.
The district’s racial composition is 86 percent white, 5 percent Black and 4 percent Asian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Communities Survey. The Hispanic or Latino population in the district is 92,936, according to the survey.
According to the State Board of Elections, there were 445,399 “active” voters in the First Congressional District as of November 2015. (An additional 30,252 were registered but “inactive.”
Active voter registration as of November:
Republican …………151,032
Democrat …………..132,555
No party affiliation…123,433
Independence…………22,840
Conservative ………. 12,082
Working Families ……..2,135
Green ……………….1,009
Other …………………313
