Phil Steck, Democratic candidate in the race to succeed retiring Congressman Mike McNulty (NY-21) announced today that he has raised over $320,000, including 872 individual donors. He reported $120,000 raised from 520 individual donors for the 2nd Quarter report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Over 95% of the money he received is from individuals and over 80% of those donors live and work in the Capital Region.
“I am very pleased to report that our campaign has successfully raised over $320,000 from 872 individual donors; 80% of whom live and work here in the Capital Region,” said Steck. “I am very grateful to people who have contributed to this community-based effort. Our fundraising has exceeded expectations and we are confident that our local approach to the campaign, including our fundraising, puts us in a stronger position to win this September.”
Steck said that while his efforts have focused on raising money from individuals in the Capital Region, his opponents have taken a great deal of money from contributors from other states, and from lobbyists and PACs.
“I am not surrounded by an army of lobbyists, and my campaign is rooted here in the community,” added Steck. “I have a record of fighting against entrenched interests. We need a representative in Washington that won’t be part of the status quo that has failed us by letting lobbyists write our energy legislation and who have stifled progress on enacting a single-payer health care system.”
Steck has also has been endorsed by over 50 local elected officials and progressive activist group Democracy for a Hudson-Mohawk Region.
In 1999, Steck was elected to the Albany County Legislature from a District that had never before elected a Democrat, and at the time he was the only Democrat elected from his town, Colonie. In 2002, Steck became Democratic Chairman in Colonie, the Capital Region’s largest suburban community with 80,000 residents, and he helped elect the first Democratic government in Colonie since the Town was founded in 112 years ago.
“I have the spent the past 20 years working to improve my community and I believe that we need a Congressman with a community based focus in Washington,” said Steck.
