Jim Graves, the Democratic businessman who recently announced that he'd be challenging Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) in 2014 as he did in 2012, is off to a hot start in terms of fundraising, Politico reported on Thursday.
The Graves campaign told Politico it had drawn over $100,000 in donations in the week since he officially announced his second effort to topple Bachmann.
He'll need to keep up the pace. Bachmann has made a name for herself as a prolific fundraiser, a reputation that she kept this month after posting a first-quarter fundraising total of nearly $675,000.
But massive amounts of cash may not necessarily correlate to results. During the 2012 cycle, Bachmann raised an impressive $14.4 million, and ended up outspending Graves by a 12-to-1 margin. Despite that, Graves only lost to Bachmann by about 4,300 votes.
And Bachmann is already facing a steeper climb than she did in 2012. Her former presidential campaign is facing a variety of ethics complaints. While Bachmann has claimed that everyone involved will be cleared of any wrongdoing, her former chief of staff announced this week that he'd testify in one of the cases and confirm allegations that Bachmann's campaign made improper payments to Iowa State Sen. Kent Sorenson (R).
National Democrats have meanwhile announced that they'll be more actively involved in supporting Graves than they were in the 2012 cycle, when they appeared skeptical of his chances in the race.
For more insight into how Graves plans to carry out his campaign against Bachmann, click over to his interview with HuffPost's Sabrina Siddiqui.
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