For the Daily Reporter
Greg Pence, the first-time Republican political candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, has a commanding lead in name recognition and financial clout in the final days leading up to Tuesday’s election.
Pence, seeking the 6th District seat that his brother, Vice President Mike Pence, held before becoming Indiana governor in 2012, has raised nearly $2.3 million and spent more than $1.9 million on his campaign. As of the Oct. 12 reporting period, Pence had $354,340 in cash on hand.
The owner of two antique malls has raised nearly 50 times more than his Democratic opponent, Jeannine Lee Lake of Muncie, another first-time candidate. In dollars, that meant $2,244,760 more in donations for Pence than his opponent.
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Lake had raised $47,970 as of Oct. 12, while spending $35,834 so far on the campaign. Lake, publisher and CEO of a bimonthly newspaper in Muncie, reported $12,033 in cash on hand.
The Associated Press describes Greg Pence, a 61-year-old Marine veteran, as the favorite to win the 6th District seat over Lake, 49. Libertarian Tom Ferkinhoff also is running.
District 6 consists of 19 Indiana counties, stretching from northeast to southeast Indiana, and includes some of the central and south-central regions of the state, including Hancock County.
While Greg Pence garnered 47,756 votes in this year’s GOP primary, compared to 8,887 for Lake, the Democrat has made several campaign appearances in Pence’s hometown, Columbus. During a July stop in Columbus, Lake received three standing ovations from a crowd of more than 200 Democrats at Donner Center. Both candidates have made stops in Hancock County as well.
Most of Pence’s campaign appearances have been private.
Lake is one of five African-American female Democrats who won their congressional primaries who did not receive support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Former DCCC chairman Steve Israel said his organization does not consider Lake a competitive candidate.
At one point, Lake reportedly struggled just to buy gasoline to drive to campaign stops. In one such instance less than a week before the May 8 primary, Lake ended up getting an endorsement — and a stack of money — from comedian and talk show host David Letterman.
Lake’s campaign credit card was declined for lack of funds when she stopped for gasoline on the way to a meeting with supporters at a coffee house.
After heading to the coffee house, she ran into Letterman, a Ball State University alumni like Lake. She took the opportunity to approach the celebrity and asked him to support to her campaign.
What he did surprised her. Letterman, Lake said, went to his car and returned with a wad of cash and gave her 58 $20 bills — totaling $1,160.
The 6th District is one of two open House seats in Indiana this year, along with the 4th District. They’re open because Republican U.S. Reps. Luke Messer and Todd Rokita ran in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate. Both men were defeated in the May primary by multimillionaire auto-parts magnate Mike Braun, who’s challenging Democrat U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly in Indiana’s closely watched Senate race.
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Itemized campaign finance report donations, spending. A4.
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