Schweikert stays focused on fundraising

As far as congressional candidates go, David Schweikert, one of the Republicans running for the District 5 seat currently held by Democrat Harry Mitchell, is something of a rare bird: he enjoys fundraising.

“I love getting on the phone with people,” he says.

His efforts seem to be paying off. Schweikert’s campaign says that it has taken in more than $500,000 and has between $430,000 and $440,000 on hand. 600 individuals have donated and the campaign says that it has attracted a broad base of support.

Schweikert, 45, is a former Maricopa County Treasurer and State Representative who now works in the real estate business. Schweikert has developed a thick rolodex from his years in the public and private sectors which, he says, has been key to his fundraising.

Something else that has helped Schweikert: his ability to self fund. The campaign says that he has given about $250,000 of his own money to the race.

Schweikert is far from the only Republican candidate to enter the race. State Representative Mark Anderson, State Corporation Commissioner Jeff Hatch-Miller, former State Representative Laura Knaperek, and former lobbyist Jim Ogsbury have all jumped in the fray. What separates Schweikert from the others, his campaign believes, is its fundraising.

When asked if he believes one of his Republican rivals might challenge him in the campaign bank account department, Schweikert has a one-word answer.

“No.”

It should come as little surprise, then, that Schweikert says his focus for the next three to four months is on continuing to build his campaign war chest. He says he will continue to make daily phone calls and will attend one to two fundraising receptions a week. Hiring staffers and developing an organization will have its time and place, the campaign believes.

What also separates Schweikert from the other candidates, the campaign says, is his endorsement from the conservative Club for Growth – an endorsement that has won Schweikert the attention of Washington and Arizona insiders.

“(The endorsement) is the gold stamp of approval,” Schweikert says.

With his lofty fundraising totals and institutional support it is difficult not to see Schweikert as the front-runner in the crowded field.

“He seems like the man to beat in the primary,” says David Wasserman of the non-partisan Cook Political Report.

As the former Maricopa County Treasurer and State Representative Schweikert moves forward with this campaign, Wasserman says that a big question surrounding his candidacy is how he utilizes the Club for Growth. The Club could attack an alternative candidate, Wasserman suggests, taking the dirty work off the campaign’s hands.

While the Club has been helpful to his candidacy, Schweikert says, it for the most part has not been in touch with him since its November endorsement.

Aside from fundraising, Schweikert is contacting voters.

When he goes on the trail, Schweikert says he is relentlessly focused on spending reform and earmark legislation.

“Fiscal sanity is probably the issue most important to me,” he explains.

It is a message, the campaign believes, voters are responsive to. The campaign believes that there is widespread disappointment with how Washington is handling spending.

“The District gets it,” says Schweikert.

For now Schweikert is happy to have the opportunity to run for the seat. He launched a campaign for U.S. Congress in 1994, only to lose to Republican J.D. Hayworth.

“I’m amazed I’m getting the opportunity to do this again,” he says.