When Elizabeth Lee zoomed ahead in the Arizona Congressional District 5 Democratic primary after polls closed July 21, it wrapped an expensive time in the state party’s politics.
But when the general election cycle started, which most of the third quarter of federal reporting falls into, the money numbers really took off, with Lee being out-fundraised by Republican Mark Lamb in the July-1-to-Sept.-30 third quarter by more than a 3-to-1 ratio.
Lee outraised each of the two Democratic primary candidates she easily beat — Brian Hualde and Chris James — by a $58,000-to-$10,000 margin in the second quarter, which ended June 30, and had raised a collective $286,000 from the start of the cycle.