McConnell Campaign Has $7.4 Million in Bank

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has begun his 2014 re-election campaign with a hefty $7.4 million cash war chest.

The Kentucky Republican raised $715,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012, Politico reports. That’s pretty impressive, given that it came two years before the election, at a time when the political world was focused on the presidential campaign and the fiscal-cliff negotiations.

McConnell raised more than $20 million for his last campaign in 2008, going into the race with $2.7 million in cash.

“Leader McConnell’s prolific fundraising will allow us to make Kentucky a new standard of excellence in campaigning the entire country will look to,” campaign manager Jesse Benton told Politico. “We will have the best tools and vast resources to make sure we communicate to every Kentuckian Sen. McConnell’s tremendous leadership and service.”

Tea partyers have expressed a desire to field a more conservative candidate against McConnell in the GOP primary. And Democratic donors and liberal activists have offered to assist them. On the Democratic side, actress Ashley Judd is considering a jump into the race.

In 2008, the five-term senator beat Democrat Bruce Lunsford 53 to 47 percent.