FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) _ After a decade of poverty, the Texas Democratic Party’s campaign coffers have been filling for the past five years.
That’s as a new generation of affluent Texas Democrats have come of age who can back the party’s candidates with their pocketbooks.
As a result, Democratic nominee Bill White has been able to compete with Republican Gov. Rick Perry in head-to-head fundraising. As of June 30, the White campaign had more than $9 million on hand, compared with $5.8 million on hand with the Perry campaign. That’s according to campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission and reviewed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Since the March primaries, White has raised $7.4 million to just over $7 million raised by Perry’s campaign. In overall fundraising for the 2010 campaign cycle, White’s campaign is still short of Perry’s, $16 million to $20 million.