Cicilline with Money Lead, But Gemma’s in the Game

Congressional candidate David Cicilline has a clear lead in the race for money with a second-quarter fundraising haul of $433,484, but Democratic primary opponent Anthony Gemma is emerging as a serious challenger, thanks to a $200,500 personal loan to his campaign.

Of four Democratic candidates, Cicilline is the clear frontrunner in First District race, according to Darrell West, a former Brown University political science professor who is now a vice president at the Brookings Institution.

“Cicilline is the strongest positioned because he entered the race the most well-known, he’s raised the most money, he’s very good at communicating with voters,” West told GoLocalProv. “He’s the candidate to beat.”

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A spokesman for Cicilline said the campaign isn’t too worried about its fundraising compares to the others. “I think that voters throughout the First District are responding to David’s message of getting things done in Congress for working men and women. I think that goes far beyond fundraising numbers,” said Rich Luchette. “We’ll leave it up to the political pundits and observers to assign labels to the candidates.”

In terms of money raised, David Segal ended the quarter with $143,826 in contributions—nearly three times as much as former state party chairman Bill Lynch who received $55,832. “You would think that the former chairman of the state Democratic party would be doing better on fundraising so it’s a little surprising that he's not doing better raising money,” West said. “It certainly raises red flags about his campaign.” (Click here to read the fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.)

Analyst Says Gemma Has ‘Potential’

Gemma came in fourth with $39,960 in contributions, not counting his loan. While Cicilline retains the lead in the race for the Democratic primary, West said Gemma has “potential” if he continues to put his own money into his campaign.

In an interview, Gemma noted that he had entered the race on June 15—just two weeks before the close of the second quarter. He said he was committed to raising enough money to be competitive. “I certainly have the ability to put my own money in, and, if I need to I will,” Gemma said, although he declined to specify how much of his own money he would be willing to invest.

One of the big surprises of the second quarter was Segal's second-quarter fundraising tally of $143,826. “We feel like we are building momentum every day. We have a very aggressive and robust field program,” said campaign manager Rachel Miller. She said his message of standing up for average Rhode Islanders against big corporations was resonating with voters.

On the Republican side, John Loughlin raked in $104,786 in the second quarter. Campaign manager Cara Cromwell said Loughlin was confident that it would have the resources it would need to get its message out in November.

A spokesman for Lynch could not be reached for comment yesterday.