For Tennessee lawmakers, recent campaign fundraising mirrored national average
It's no secret that winning a seat in Congress costs a boatload of money.
But just how much—on average—is the focus of a new analysis unveiled this month by MapLight, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog organization.
In the 2012 campaign cycle, winning House members raised an average of $1.6 million to spend on efforts to claim victory on election day. The figure breaks down to an average of $2,315 raised per day during the period.
Senate figures are much higher. Candidates who won election to the upper chamber of Congress last year raised an average of $10.4 million, which breaks down to $14,351 raised every day during the cycle.
The numbers aren't too off for the Tennessee lawmakers who were up for and won re-election last year. Sen. Bob Corker and Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Scott DesJarlais all came in below average, but not by much.
Corker, who was elected to a second term, raised $9,994,587.
Fleischmann hauled in $1,412,229 for his re-election campaign.
And DesJarlais, who was re-elected amid controversy over his past, counted $1,260,459 in contributions.
The analysis only refers to direct contributions made to campaigns and excludes outside spending by groups such as party committees. It also does not take into account spending by outside groups that focused on a particular race and may have benefitted a winning candidate, such as the $165,000 spent by a nonprofit on a late-campaign ad that targeted 3rd District primary candidate and Fleischmann opponent Scottie Mayfield.
