Kurt Winstead’s campaign in the race for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District seat says its taken in nearly $580,000 for the the Federal Election Commission’s second-quarter fundraising period, which ended on June 30.
Winstead is a candidate in the August 4 Republican primary, now less than a month away.
According to the campaign statement, “In the latest filing to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, Winstead will report having receipts of nearly $580,000 in the quarter, bringing the campaign total to over $1.5 million. His fundraising efforts have far outpaced any of the other candidates in the Republican Primary.”
At least roughly $500,000 of that total amount, based on publicly available information, is a loan that General Winstead gave his own campaign.
“We have serious momentum here in the district. Our team is working around the clock ahead of the August 4th primary. We want to thank the outpouring of support our campaign is receiving across the district,” Winstead said.
The FEC second-quarter filing period is required by law to be reported no later than July 15, which is also the first day of early voting. Campaign finance reports will be publicly available soon after.
“I’m seeing a lot of enthusiasm for General Winstead on the campaign trail. He is the only candidate with real momentum in this race,” said campaign finance chair Jimmy Granbery.
As the campaign finance reports are not publicly available, it is unclear how many of the new donors are clients of General Winstead’s wife, Democrat lobbyist Beth Winstead.
Previously reported, several of Beth Winstead’s lobbying clients have Democrat donation histories and were listed as high-dollar donors to the Kurt Winstead for Congress campaign on the FEC first-quarter filing.
Ms. Winstead is known to have a heavy influence on her husband’s campaign, which includes fundraising activities. That fact is not disputed by either Beth Winstead or Kurt Winstead.
The Tennessee Star reached out to the Winstead campaign and asked the following questions, as the information is not yet publicly available:
1 – How many of the donors are from McMahan Winstead and Richardson lobbying clients?
2 – What percentage of the donors are from In-District vs. Out-of-District?
The Winstead campaign responded by pointing to the July 15 reporting date as to the identification of the donors and further said that the vast majority of the funds were from within the state of Tennessee.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Kurt Winstead” by Kurt Winstead.
