Two years ago, Rep. Dan Newhouse narrowly defeated Clint Didier in the race to see who would replace the retiring Doc Hastings from the 4th Congressional District. Despite having a distinct fund-raising advantage, Newhouse beat Didier by only a few percentage points. It was the first time in state history that two candidates from THE SAME party faced each other in a Congressional election.

Now, with Newhouse facing re-election, Didier has filed again. Newhouse has again raced way ahead in the fund raising portion, with over $632,000 raised, compared to Didier's $6,350, according to legally mandated campaign contribution disclosure records.

Didier's campaign relies far more on a grass roots, boots on the ground effort as it did two years ago, while Newhouse has a number of corporate donors including Home Depot, Microsoft and Exxon Mobile. 60% of Newhouse's funding has come from political action committees (PACS) and corporations. His PAC supporters include realtors, beer distributors and cattlemen. Didier does not have any corporate donors, but relies upon much smaller donations from citizens and small groups.

Two years ago, Didier was effectively able to gather votes using Newhouses's 'big money' ties and PAC money against him. Newhouse was able to use his resources to blanket radio, TV and social media with his message. What will happen this August remains to be seen.

The August primary is coming fast, with the top two vote getters making it onto the November ballot.

Virtually no polling data is available to see which candidate is preferred by voters going into the primary.

 

 

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