Ted Howze won a chance to challenge Josh Harder, but has fallen far behind on fundraising
A Republican who wants to reclaim a California congressional district his party lost in 2018 fell far behind freshman Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock in fundraising for the first three months of 2020.
Ted Howze, a veterinarian and former Turlock city councilman, raised $71,000 for his campaign to unseat Harder, according to newly published records with the Federal Elections Commission
Harder, who defeated Republican Rep. Jeff Denham two years ago, hauled in $787,000 in the same time period. Harder’s race in 2018 one of seven in California where Democrats flipped Republican-held districts in the midterm election.
Howze in last month’s primary election earned a chance to challenge Harder on the November ballot. Since then, candidates all over the country have struggled to raise money and connect with voters who are primarily concerned about the coronavirus outbreak.
Howze and Harder have both focused their campaigns on charitable work and public service information during the coronavirus pandemic.
“After the competitive primary, Dr. Howze postponed several fundraising events scheduled for March and early April and fully focused on his Operation Compassion effort, delivering food and supplies during this lockdown,” Howze campaign spokeswoman Ashley McPartlan said.
Howze donated bread and his campaign staff delivered it to the disabled and those who can’t leave their homes.
Harder has hosted multiple telephone town halls — with huge participation — and raised thousands of dollars for United Way and had his staff work at the Salvation Army.
The new fundraising numbers were released one week after a major Republican Super Political Action Committee chose not to include Howze in a slate of seven figure advertising buys for the party’s highest priority congressional races.
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC that is an arm of Republican leadership in the House of Representatives, announced $4.6 million in reserved TV advertisements in California, likely to air in September and October. Howze’s area was left off the list, which was the group’s first announced major ad reservations.
Howze loaned $600,000 to his campaign in 2019. He currently has $100,000 in cash on hand, putting his campaign just under $500,000 in debt. Harder has about $3.5 million in cash on hand.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
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