Washington state GOP candidate raises nearly $600k in 9 days

Washington state Sen. Dino Rossi (R) raised more than a half-million dollars in the first nine days of his House campaign, he said Wednesday, an eye-popping sum in one of the top open-seat  races of 2018.

Rossi announced his campaign’s haul of $575,000 in a Facebook post ginning up momentum for his bid to replace Rep. Dave Reichert (R), who will retire at the end of next year.

“I’m thrilled and grateful to announce that by the end of September, we’d already raised more than $575,000! Even better, 95% of the money came from people right here in Washington State!” he wrote. 

{mosads}

“It looks like there are a lot of you who, like me, are sick of the in-fighting and ineffectiveness in Congress and want to elect someone who can bring people together to solve problems.” 

Rossi has long eyed higher office in Washington — he ran a tight race for governor in 2004 and was the GOP’s nominee for Senate in 2010, but lost both races.

When Reichert announced his retirement in September, Rossi was instantly floated as a top choice of Republicans looking to hold on to the Democratic-leaning seat. He announced his bid a few weeks later.  

Campaigns are slated to file their third-quarter reports by the end of the week. Those reports stretch from July through September, which is why Rossi only has to report fundraising over just a few days. 

The strong fundraising haul will likely prompt hesitation among any Republicans eyeing the seat as well. But Rossi will need the money to defend the GOP’s hold on the seat. 

Reichert had been considered a strong incumbent who regularly weathered the storm of a leftward-drifting district. Democrats regularly take the district at the presidential level, but Reichert outperformed President Trump by 17 points last year en route to an easy victory.

So his decision to retire gives Democrats a strong shot at flipping the seat. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the seat as a toss-up, while Inside Elections, another nonpartisan elections handicapper, rates the seat “tilt-Democratic.”