U.S. Sen. John Thune has $17.4 million dollars in political cash on hand, according to third quarter filings to the federal elections commission.
Some political bloggers call Thune the “undisputed heavyweight champion” in South Dakota political fundraising.
Thune is the number two Republican senator. He’s raised just over $1 million dollars since January, adding to his significant political war chest.
“It is a lot of money for a South Dakota election,” said University of South Dakota political science professor Mike Card said. “It’s a very large amount of money.”
Card said that amount of money makes Thune a political kingmaker.
“In essence, with that large of a campaign chest he can make quite an influence either inside South Dakota, or can support others should he become majority leader or wish to become majority leader or at least the leader of the party in the United States Senator over the next five years.”
Interest on Thune’s campaign fund—totaling over $442,000—has brought in more since January than South Dakota’s junior senator during the same time period.
Mike Rounds has raised a quarter-of-a-million dollars since the beginning of the year. That includes $30,000 from two conservative political action committees. Rounds has about $1.5 million cash on hand.
Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson has $3.3 million in his campaign war chest.
