EXCLUSIVE — Democrat Lucas Kunce raised nearly $300,000 in the three weeks since he announced his bid for U.S. Senate, his campaign said Monday.
Kunce’s camp said it raised more than $280,000 before the April 1 Federal Election Commission (FEC) quarterly deadline with most contributions (95 percent) less than $250. He has yet to hold an in-person event.
“My campaign isn’t accepting a single cent of corporate PAC money, so I’m proud and grateful we’ve already been able to count on such strong support in the weeks since we’ve joined this race,” Kunce said. “Right now, we’re putting those resources into building the powerful and unprecedented grassroots movement we’ll need to take back this U.S. Senate seat for everyday Missourians.”
The deadline to disclose first quarter contribution totals isn’t until April 15. According to Open Secrets, some candidates have disclosed their first-quarter haul early to signal momentum as the 2022 midterm races are expected to be expensive.
Kunce is running for the U.S. Senate seat left open after Roy Blunt announced he would not run for re-election. Former Democratic state Sen. Scott Sifton has also thrown his hat into the ring as well as Republicans Eric Schmitt, the attorney general, and Eric Greitens, the former governor.
Kunce is an attorney and Jefferson City native. He spent 13 years in the Marine Corps where he served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and South Asia. Kunce is the director of national security for the nonprofit Economic Liberties Project.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.