Hafer's weak 4th Quarter

I have been curious as to how Bethany Hafer did in the 4th quarter fundraising as her campaign seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth in December and early January. Her year end report has been filed and it was at best a mediocre quarter, as she took in roughly $25,000 in primary election money, and a couple of big donations for the general election fund. Interesting, and this may be an FEC data entry glitch, there does not appear to be any disclosable, $250+ donations in the 4th quarter. She spent more than she raised in the quarter, and was out-raised by at least one self-funding primary challenger, and by the incumbent Republican Tim Murphy. Over the course of the primary cycle, she has raised a little less than $100,000 in primary funds, which is more than Chad Kluko, the Democratic challenger in 2006 raised in the entire cycle.

This district is heating up with another Fighting Dem challenger entering the race earlier this month in Wayne Dudding and Dan Wholey dropping out of the primary race. Two Political Junkies recently attended events with Dudding and Hafer and has a good update on the coalition Hafer is trying to build:

Ok, so I went to this meet and greet thing with Beth Hafer this evening at the Shadow Lounge. A more than respectable number of what I assumed to be mostly eastside progressives tucked into a dark room just across the street from the East Liberty Presbyterian Church....

City Councilman Bill Peduto hosted the event and before it began, I asked him about his connection to Beth Hafer's campaign. He said he was there to offer her support and to help out networking with some of the leaders of Pittsburgh's progressive community....

On the race, she said she was optimistic she could win it. There are more Democrats than Republicans in the district. And a sizeable number of independents. She's got a union endorsement: The Communications Workers Union. Going door-to-door she said she learned that even Republicans are upset with the way things are going. It's winnable, she said.

Hafer is sending off the right markers and signals for Pittsburgh's progressives to support and fund her campaign. I know when I worked on Tom Kovach's campaign this was something that we tried to catalyze, but was unable to do so in an effective manner. I think she is right that this is a tough but winnable campaign for an aggressive Democrat; Murphy does a good job of blurring his and his party's sharper edges and his constituent service and outreach is not bad; not the best but not a net negative. But if she wants to be that Democrat, she needs to do better this quarter which is the last full quarter before the primary.