Amy Klobuchar raised $4.8 million in the first 62 days of her campaign for Minnesota governor and finished the period with about $3.4 million in cash on hand, giving her an early financial edge in the race. She began raising money on Jan. 29, the day she launched her campaign.
The campaign finance data released Wednesday covers money spent and raised from Jan. 1 through March 31 of this year. Klobuchar also spent more than $1.3 million on digital advertising, campaign consulting and travel, underscoring how quickly she moved to turn early donations into a statewide operation. For a campaign that had been live for barely two months, the size of the haul was the clearest signal so far that donors are treating her as the dominant Democratic contender.
That advantage matters because Minnesota Democrats are opening the midterm season with a sizable cash cushion over Republicans, and the numbers on Wednesday showed that gap in plain view. House Speaker Lisa Demuth raised more than $225,000 in the first quarter and reported over $540,000 in cash on hand, while her affiliated political action committee, Restore Sanity, brought in more than $1.2 million, including nearly $1.1 million from the billionaire-backed Restoration of America PAC.
The Republican field is still trying to match that pace. MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell raised about $495,000 in the quarter, bringing his total to nearly $850,000 since launching his campaign in December, but he had only $40,000 in cash left after spending heavily. His campaign paid $115,000 to rent Mar-A-Lago for a March fundraising event and nearly $20,000 for food there, while Lindell separately spent another $60,000 this year to buy copies of his memoir, What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO. Kendall Qualls raised nearly $125,000 in the quarter and reported about $100,000 in cash on hand.
The financial contrast is already shaping the race before the campaign calendar has fully turned. Klobuchar’s first-quarter total, raised in just 62 days, outpaced the fundraising of each major Republican contender and left her with enough money to keep spending while her rivals are still trying to build reserves. The numbers released Wednesday make the early conclusion hard to avoid: she has the money, and for now, the rest of the field is playing catch-up.
