The fundraising deadline for Congressional candidates came and went and the candidates revealed how much money they raised in the second fundraising quarter.

In the First Congressional District, Republican candidate Darren White leads in cash on hand by a wide margin despite losing the fundraising race in the quarter. White had $634,307.16 cash on hand as of the end of the quarter, while Democratic candidate Martin Heinrich had just $354,165.01. This comes despite the fact that Heinrich raised $508,924.69 from May 15, the pre-primary fundraising deadline, to June 30, the second quarter fundraising deadline. In the same period, White raised just $304,037.42.

The Heinrich campaign hailed the fundraising in a press release.

Despite President Bush raising $317,000 in a matter of hours for White’s struggling campaign, Heinrich’s broad base of grassroots support was able to significantly beat back the Washington Republican financial machine.

The money raised by President George W Bush was actually split between White and the New Mexico Republican party. White held another high dollar fundraiser with Heather Wilson as the main attraction, but numbers were not disclosed.

The First Congressional District is widely expected to be among the most competitive races in the nation as it was two years ago. In the 2006 election, incumbent Heather Wilson survived a close election against former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid by less than a thousand votes. Wilson left the First Congressional District seat to run for Senate. She lost the Senate primary to Steve Pearce in June.

Pearce also vacated his Second Congressional District seat, leaving it open. The district is the most conservative in New Mexico by far.

Despite this, Democrat Harry Teague still managed to report $377,084.31 in receipts in the second quarter. That came with an $80,000 loan to his campaign. Teague loaned over $750,000 to his own campaign for the closely contested primary against Bill McCamley. Teague ended the quarter with just $75,303.01 in cash on hand.

The campaign said in a press release that, "No Democratic candidate in the 2nd Congressional District has ever raised as much money as Harry Teague."

Republican Ed Tinsley, considered by many to be the clear frontrunner, raised $314,485.00 in the quarter and reported no loans to his campaign. Tinsley loaned $235,000 overall to his campaign throughout the primary. Tinsley finished the quarter with $111,530.22 cash on hand, good for a $35,000 advantage over Teague entering the third quarter.

The Third Congressional district is considered a safe retention for the Democrats. Democrat Tom Udall left the seat to run for Senate. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Ben Ray Lujan reported raising $330,515.71 in the third quarter, including $150,000 in personal loans. Lujan finished with $92,445.82 cash on hand.

His opponent, Dan East, raised $10,355 in the same period and finished with $10,776.35 cash on hand.