Silicon Valley Democrats Neck and Neck After Massive Fundraising Haul for House Primary

After months of trying to catch up with Ro Khanna, incumbent Mike Honda now has more cash on hand than his fellow Democrat and potential general election competitor Khanna, who is trying to unseat him. So says a new report filed with the Federal Elections Commission for the 17th Congressional District in Silicon Valley. 

Khanna has raised about $3.8 million over the course of the election and spent about $2.7 million. Honda has raised approximately $2.1 million and spent close to $1.2 million, leaving Honda with around $1 million in cool hard cash to spend in order to defend his seat, according to Bay Area-based political tracking blog ibabuzz.com. 

This figure places the men on a more equal playing field should both Democrats proceed to a head-to-head general election battle for Honda’s seat if Republican Vanila Singh, who is polling ahead of Khanna, does not split the Democratic vote. Khanna had outraised Honda and all his other rivals through the end of 2013.

Since May of this year, Honda’s campaign has reported raising $36,100 in contributions of $1,000 or more each, while Khanna’s campaign has reported $16,000 in such contributions, notes ibabuzz.com.

While Honda is relying greatly on his incumbent status and loyal base to induce greater voter turnout in November, his campaign believes that things will work in his favor between the June 3 primary and November general election, now that he and Singh have roughly the same amount of funds to spend on advertising and outreach.

Both camps have been going at it. Honda’s campaign manager Doug Greven has said that Khanna is likely “not getting any traction with voters,” which is why “his campaign feels the need to spend $3 million just to make it into the general election.” 

A spokesman for Khanna’s camp, Tyler Law, says the money spent on advertising was a “smart investment” and that “no one is surprised” about the move. Law did go on to say that “the Honda campaign wouldn’t have avoided all debates and wouldn’t be paying to spread false attacks about Ro if they were confident in their standing with the voters.”