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CHARLESTON -- State Treasurer Riley Moore continues to sweep up the majority of fundraising in the Republican primary to succeed U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, while U.S. Rep. Carol Miller has more than enough money to handle her one opponent.
Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports covering the period between July, August, and October were due Sunday.
In the Republican race in the 2nd Congressional District covering the northern half of West Virginia, Moore raised $141,151 for the quarter, bringing his election year-to-date contributions to $617,159, leaving him with $492,967 in cash-on-hand. Moore's joint fundraising committee, Team Riley, raised $36,330 for the quarter, leaving it with $3,140 in cash-on-hand.
Team Riley is a joint fundraising committee for Moore's congressional campaign, Mountaineer PAC, a political action committee formed in August and associated with Moore. Of the money raised, $19,700 was transferred to Mountaineer PAC, $7,000 was transferred to the Moore campaign for the primary, and $6,000 was transferred to Moore for use in the general election. The campaign finance reports for Team Riley only included seven individual donors.
Moore is nearing the final year of his first four-year term as State Treasurer after defeating six-term former Democratic state treasurer John Perdue in 2020. A former one-term member of the House of Delegates representing Jefferson County, Moore is a former staffer with the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Nate Cain of Hedgesville, a veteran of the U.S. Army and businessman in the cybersecurity industry, raised $27,715 for the quarter, bringing his election year-to-date contributions to $61,935 and his cash-on-hand to $2,098. But more than 35% of Cain's reported donations are listed as in-kind contributions to his campaign. In election year-to-date donations, more than 38% of Cain's $61,935 total donations, or $23,792, came as in-kind contributions from himself.
Joe Earley of Bridgeport, a U.S. Army veteran and cybersecurity professional, raised $14,100 for the quarter and $30,373 election year-to-date. Nearly 50% of the $14,100 total came from Earley himself in the form of in-kind contributions. While Earley has $80,131 in cash-on-hand, $80,000 of that comes from a loan to his campaign.
Alexander Gaaserud of Elkins raised no money during the quarter, only raising $5,400 since entering the race last year. His cash-on-hand is $11 and he has $8,000 in loans/debts, including two loans to his campaign totaling $5,000 and a $3,000 debt owed to a political consultancy firm.
The winner of the 2024 Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District and the general election in November 2024 will succeed Mooney, R-W.Va., who is seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Miller, R-W.Va., is leading her only opponent in fundraising for the 1st Congressional District covering the southern half of the state. Miller raised $131,981 for the three-month quarter between July and September, bringing her election year-to-date contributions to $442,195.
Miller has $228,696 in cash-on-hand going into the remainder of 2023. Miller also reported $417,993 in debt/loans, including $411,900 in remaining balances on several loans Miller took out for her first congressional campaign in 2018.
Miller won election to the new 1st District after the state dropped from three to two districts after the 2020 U.S. Census. Miller represented the 3rd Congressional District for two terms beginning in 2018 after serving as a Republican member of the House of Delegates representing Cabell County.
Former Wayne County Republican delegate Derrick Evans - who resigned in 2021 after being charged for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building by supporters of former Republican president Donald Trump to stop the certification of the election for Democratic President Joe Biden - raised $81,539 for the quarter. He raised $111,103 election year-to-date.
Evans is heading into the last three months of 2023 with $62,922 in cash-on-hand. But Evans also has $16,101 in debts, including owing $14,355 to RST Marketing Associates for printing and postage costs.
Evans, who recorded himself breaking into the Capitol with fellow rioters, pleaded guilty to a felony count of civil disorder and was sentenced to three months in jail. But despite expressing remorse for his actions in court, Evans has since backed away from his earlier remorse. According to his campaign website, Evans still believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen.