Missouri Democratic candidate for governor raises $3.4M

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- New campaign-finance reports show Missouri Democratic candidate for governor Attorney General Chris Koster raked in more than $3.4 million in cash in the last several months, bringing his war chest up to more than $10 million.

That's more than Republican U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt had on hand for his campaign for re-election at the end of June.

Missouri's candidates faced a Friday deadline to report fundraising and spending from April through the end of June.

The reports showed Koster far outpaced the four Republican contenders for the state's top executive seat, who face a competitive GOP primary Aug. 2. Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon is barred by term limits from seeking re-election.

Koster also faces a primary, but the other candidates haven't raised enough money to meet the threshold for required reporting.

Earlier reports showed Koster from the start of the year through the end of March exceeded the combined total of all the Republican contenders with about $2.2 million in cash and in-kind donations.

His four Republican rivals had raised just under $2.1 million.

The Republican candidates are suburban St. Louis businessman John Brunner, former U.S. Attorney and Missouri House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

Hanaway brought in the most of the Republicans with close to $1.8 million in cash, which includes more than $1.5 million from political action committees funded by wealthy Missouri mega donor Rex Sinquefield. She has about $1.3 million in cash on hand.

Brunner raised $1.3 million, including another loan to himself for $1 million, and has $1.9 million to spend. He's previously self-funded campaigns and spent more than $7.5 million of his own money on an unsuccessful race for U.S. Senate in 2012.

Greitens, who has been one of the top GOP fundraisers, fell behind the other contenders and received about $1 million in cash donations. But he's ahead with $2.2 million in cash to spend.

He hasn't returned $1 million in campaign donations from Michael Goguen, a California venture capitalist accused of sexual abuse in a pending lawsuit. Goguen has denied the allegations.

Kinder, the only candidate who has previously won statewide office, continued to trail in fundraising. He brought in close to $680,000 in cash and has only raised $1.6 million so far for a bid for governor. He has about $618,000 in cash.

Most of Kinder's recent donations came from the wealthy Humphreys family. David Humphreys and his sister Sarah Atkins each gave Kinder $250,000. Humphreys is president and CEO of Joplin-based TAMKO Building Products, where his sister is a consultant.

The Republicans, concerned about getting their party's nomination, are outspending Koster, who has a clearer path to the general election.

While Koster spent $740,000 in the most recent reporting period, Greitens spent $2.9 million, Brunner spent $2.6 million and Hanaway spent about $2 million. Kinder spent roughly $686,000.