WASHINGTON – Candidates Jeff Ettinger and Brad Finstad have chosen drastically different ways to finance their campaigns for the MN-1 seat in Congress.
As of September 30, the latest campaign required reporting date to the Federal Commission, Ettinger had raised $2.4 million with $505,000 still on hand. Most of the money was his own — $1.2 million as a personal loan to the campaign and $400,000 as a contribution. With so much of the funding being his own money, Ettinger didn’t need to rely heavily on the Democratic Party. This allowed the party to channel its resources to races it considered more vulnerable.
Ettinger. Democrat from Austin. Retired chief executive of the meat-packing company Hormel. At Hormel he healed deep wounds from a bitter strike and grew the company to $9 billion a year in revenue and 20,000 employees.
As of September 30, Finstad had raised raised $1.2 million and had $336,000 cash still on hand. He leaned heavily on funds from the national Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.
Finstad. Republican from New Ulm. A farmer who served three terms in the Minnesota House. Also was a Trump-appointed federal agricultural liaison for Minnesota.