More than $3 million raised in Nebraska congressional race

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Over the last ten months, more than $3 million has been thrown at two candidates vying for Congressional District One. The latest Federal Election Commission filings show Democrat Patty Pansing Brooks and Republican Mike Flood separated by just a few hundred thousand dollars.

State Senator Pansing Brooks held a press conference Tuesday, highlighting the nearly $1.5 million in donations made to her campaign.

“Of that, more than $1.3 million of the $1.5 million is from Nebraskans,” Pansing Brooks said. “90% of the money that’s coming in for me is from Nebraskans. Our number of individual contributions is 12,752. And our number of unique donors is 5,335. Our average contribution is just $123. This all shows the grassroots enthusiasm for my campaign.”

The rest of that money, just over $26,000, comes from PACs, or Political Action Committees, but not corporations.

“Coming from the Nebraska people means that I am supporting and beholden to Nebraskans and to our voters,” Pansing Brooks said. “I’m not beholden to the special interests that are paying for his, Flood’s, campaign.”

Pansing Brooks currently has spent $1.1 million and has $315,000 cash on hand.

Representative Mike Flood, who beat Pansing Brooks in the June special election, has raised more, at $1,877,070. The FEC shows $1.4 million is from individual donors, and just over $330,000 is from PACs, including corporations.

10/11 NOW reached out to Flood’s campaign, asking about those corporate donations. Hudson Buell, campaign manager for Flood, defended the donations and pointed to money Pansing Brooks brought in during her time running for the Nebraska State Legislature.

“Over 40 percent of Patty Pansing Brooks’s legislative contributions are from corporate donors and PACs,” Buell said. “These attacks on Congressman Flood’s integrity are hypocritical and dishonest. Mike Flood works for the people and nobody else.”

Buell also defended FEC filing errors Pansing Brooks pointed out, like more than $30,000 in PAC donations listed as individual donations on the latest filing and other discrepancies from the summer. In July and September, the FEC sent Flood letters alleging there were what appeared to be donations over the legal limit on his filings. Flood told the Nebraska Examiner it was due to a software issue. Buell said amendments have been filed for all errors.

“Patty Pansing Brooks is talking about clerical errors because she is running from the fact that she will side with Biden and his terrible economic policies that are leading the nation into a recession,” Buell said. “She can’t talk about improving the economy or lowering gas prices or inflation because her policies will just make things worse for families.”

As for where Flood is at with finances today, he has spent $1.5 million, has $300,000 cash on hand and just over $195,000 in debt.

Both Pansing Brooks and Flood have outraised their counterpart candidates who ran in the 2020 election. Back then, Kate Bolz, a Democrat, raised $1.1 million and Republican ex-Congressman Jeff Fortenberry raised $1.4 million.

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