Fred Hubbell Has Already Raised $1 Million For Gubernatorial Campaign

Des Moines businessman Fred Hubbell is already off to a fast start in the fundraising game for Iowa Democrats’ gubernatorial primary. Today his campaign announced that they have already raised a record-breaking $1 million in donations from individual Iowans.

“I am truly humbled to have the support of Iowans in every corner of the state,” Hubbell said in a press release. “As we toured Iowa, we spoke with countless Iowans who believe politicians have put our state on the wrong track. Iowans are hungry for a leader who is not beholden to special interests. I’ve never run for political office, and the only interests that are special to me are the people of Iowa.”

Many expected that Hubbell would be able to self-fund a full, statewide operation. Today’s news shows that he’s also able to pull in significant dollars – quickly – from his network of friends and beyond. The campaign noted that no other Democratic challenger for the governor’s office has raised that much in the year before the election. It’s also about as much as Kim Reynolds’ reported as having in her campaign war chest at the end of 2016.

“We think this shows that Fred Hubbell is going to put in the work to raise the money needed to operate a ground game that can win, and he clearly has the level of support necessary,” one person close to the campaign told Starting Line.

Aside from being able to buy a whole lot of TV ads in advance of the June 5th Democratic primary with all that money, the Hubbell campaign could also build out a serious field organization early on. That’s important with the possibility that the Democratic nomination could be decided at the state convention if no candidate hits 35% in the primary. A large field operation will be needed in that circumstance to get supporters out to the initial caucus in February, and then keep them mobilized throughout the entire caucus-to-convention process.

Hubbell just got finished with his campaign announcement tour this past week.

by Pat Rynard
Posted 7/24/17