Judge leads Dem fundraising for U.S. Senate seat

DAVENPORT - Former Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, who is seeking the Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nomination, raised $213,802 in her first month as a candidate, according to a summary of fundraising provided by her campaign Friday.

Judge's fundraising total put her far ahead of her primary rivals but also is far short of the money raised by incumbent Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Grassley's campaign reported Friday that he raised $992,040 in the first quarter and had nearly $5 million in the bank. He reported more than 5,200 contributors for the quarter.

Friday was the deadline for congressional candidates to file their first-quarter financial reports. Four Democrats are seeking the party's nomination to run against Grassley.

Reports for Senate candidates are filed with the Secretary of the Senate, so they aren't posted until much later to the Federal Election Commission website. However, the candidates provided figures to media outlets this week or issued news releases announcing the results.

Judge's fundraising take for the month exceeded what primary rival state Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, has thus far raised for his entire campaign.

Judge, an Albia farmer who has the tacit backing of the Democrats' political arm in the Senate, said she received money from more than 5,000 contributors. She reported having $209,946 in the bank at the end of the month.

Hogg, who announced his candidacy last fall, reported raising $57,671 for the three-month period and $178,929 thus far in his campaign. His report said he had $40,647 in the bank. Hogg has won the support of a large number of state legislators.

The reports cover the beginning of the year through the end of March.

The two other candidates in the Democratic race are former state Sen. Tom Fiegen, of Clarence, and Bob Krause, a former state representative from Fairfield.

Krause reported raising $1,179 for the first quarter and said he had $4,820 in the bank. His report said he loaned his committee $5,000 from his personal funds. Krause, who filed campaign organizational papers last June, had previously reported $2,839 in contributions, according to the FEC's website.

At the end of 2015, Fiegen had reported $28,588 in contributions, with about $20,000 coming from his own pocket. He had $22,106 in the bank at the end of the year. His campaign had not released first-quarter figures Friday afternoon.