Rick Nolan’s Fundraising Mystery

January 28, 2016

mathDid you see that Rick Nolan was touting breaking a “fundraising record,” but didn’t actually announce how much he raised in Q4 of 2015? What a mystery! Let’s put our thinking caps on and see if we can figure out what Nolan raised in Q4. I wasn’t a math major, but I promise to show my work.

Step 1: Use fec.gov to determine how much Nolan raised in the first 3 quarters of the year: Q1 Raised: $276,758, Q2 Raised: $164,480, Q3 Raised: $259,849

Step 2: Add Q1, Q2, and Q3 together: $276,758 + $164,480 + $259,849 = $701,087

Step 3: Subtract the total Q1, Q2, and Q3 contributions from the total raised for the year, to find the Q4 number: $886,000 – 701,087 = $184,913 raised in Q4.

If Nolan was so eager to talk about his fundraising, why would he force us to do math to find out how much he actually raised? Maybe it’s because, if my math is right, he was outraised by Stewart Mills, and wanted to avoid shining a spotlight on his weak numbers? Mills brought in more than $250,000 in Q4.

Additionally, if the numbers reported are correct, Nolan’s burn rate for 2015 is approaching an astronomical 40%.

NRCC Comment: “What is Rick Nolan trying to hide by releasing some fundraising numbers and not others? Nolan is clearly worried about his chances for reelection if he is trying to hide a bad 4th quarter and astronomical burn rate.” – NRCC Spokesman Zach Hunter