Jacky Rosen raises more than $5 million in first weeks of October

Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) raised nearly $5.1 million for her bid to unseat Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) during the period from Oct. 1 through Oct. 17, her campaign said Friday. 

The pre-election fundraising numbers, shared first with The Hill, signal that Rosen is keeping up her momentum in the money race.

{mosads} She has outraised Heller in every quarter since launching her Senate bid more than a year ago. 

In a federal filing earlier this week, Rosen reported raking in nearly $7.1 million between July 1 and Sept. 30, ending the period with roughly $2.6 million in cash on hand.

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By comparison, Heller raised just short of $2.2 million in the third fundraising quarter, though he finished the period with slightly more cash than Rosen – about $2.7 million.

Rosen’s most recent $5.1 million haul was fueled largely by small-dollar donations, her campaign said.

Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 17, nearly 140,000 people contributed to her Senate campaign with an average donation size of $36. 

Ninety-six percent of the donations in that period were of $100 or less, her campaign said. The surge in low-dollar donations comes as small donors find themselves playing an increasingly prominent role in campaign politics.

“As we enter the final stretch of this race, it’s clear that Dean Heller is a few weeks away from losing his seat,” Danny Kazin, Rosen’s campaign manager, said in a statement. 

Rosen is battling to oust Heller, one of the most vulnerable Senate Republicans, in a state won narrowly by Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, currently rates the race as a “toss-up.”

Despite Heller’s vulnerability, he has bounced back in public polls in recent weeks, with most surveys showing him with a narrow lead over Rosen. An Emerson College poll conducted earlier this month showed the incumbent Republican ahead by 7 points.

The most recent survey in that race, conducted by Vox Populi Polling from Oct. 13-15, showed Rosen and Heller tied at 44 percent each.

Rosen and Heller are set to face off on Friday night in their first debate of the Senate race.

–Updated at 4:18 p.m.