Edwards Outraises All Comers in 4th Congressional District

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Fort Washington, has raised more money than anyone else in her race for re-election in Maryland’s 4^th Congressional District. According to finance reports filed through Dec. 31, 2011, with the Federal Election Commission, no other active candidates in the race have reported their contributions.

Edwards’ campaign has raised $516,196 as of Dec. 31 with $263,360 of her funds coming from individual donations. One of her biggest donors is the Park Foundation, which specifically invests in sustainability, higher education and animal welfare, $5,000. The Bauman Foundation, which works to promote scientific discovery, has donated $9,600.

The remainder of her donations came from PACs, with the largest donations coming from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, all of which donated the maximum for the election cycle, $10,000.

Edwards declined comment.

Edwards, who has served two terms in Congress, is opposed in the April 3 primary by Ian Garner and George McDermott.

The Republican candidates, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections, are Randy Gearhart, Greg Holmes, Faith M. Loudon, and Charles Shepherd.

Garner, a young military veteran, has chosen to keep his contributions below the $5,000 cap to protest the “retail politics” he sees driving political campaigns today.

“I’ve worked very well and tried hard to stay under the $5,000 mark,” said Garner, who estimates his donations to total about $3,500.

The other Democratic challenger, McDermott, who has run for the seat in the last five elections, said his reason for not publishing his finances is because he has not made an announcement yet that he is officially running. Although he filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections on Aug. 30, McDermott has neither reported any contributions nor invested anything on his own behalf to his campaign.

While telling the truth to people is the reason he said he’s in this race, McDermott admitted that running is a waste time when it’s against Edwards, who has so much monetary support from PACs and labor unions.

McDermott plans to announce that he is officially running soon.

Among the Republicans, Shepherd said he chooses not to file his finances with the FEC because “what I spend out of my pocket is my business, not theirs,” he said.

All candidates are required to file financial reports once they reach $5,000.  Shepherd said that since he is below the poverty line and not accepting donations, he does not foresee making it to that threshold.

Another Republican, Gearhart, decided to run because he has “strong opinions” about government and thinks people should be more involved in the electoral process.

Even though he too has not raised any significant amount of money for a campaign, he “didn’t think it was right for (Edwards) to run unopposed.”

Loudon, a friend of Gearhart, said that she had only recently announced her candidacy in January and plans to file her financial report in the beginning of April, right before the election.

Glenn Ivey, the Democratic former Prince George’s County state’s attorney, and Robert Broadus, a Republican who is also running for Senate, were two other candidates who raised and reported funds to the FEC for their campaigns, but both have since dropped out of the race.

Holmes could not be reached for comment.