Barry Moore outraises main rival in Alabama US Senate race, hauls in nearly $500,000

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, took in more campaign cash in the third quarter than any other GOP contender for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The congressman reported $513,992 in donations from July through September — almost $100,000 more than the $417,890 in contributions reported by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, his main rival in the GOP primary.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is running for governor instead of seeking a second term in the Senate.

More than 77% of Moore’s contributions came from individuals, the records showed.

Roughly $114,000 was donated by political action committees.

Moore’s campaign spent more than $244,000 during the third quarter, including fundraising and digital advertising. He also refunded $29,500 in contributions.

The congressman ended the third quarter with more than $557,279 in cash on hand.

Moore, who registered his Senate campaign committee in mid-August, has raised about $780,000 since then.

Meanwhile, more than 86% of the $417,890 in donations Marshall’s campaign took in from July through September came from individuals, FEC records showed.

The remainder came from $42,300 Marshall transferred from Marshall Victory Fund, another campaign committee he controlled, in the third quarter while political action committees contributed $14,500.

Marshall spent $245,291 during the quarter, mostly on political consulting, polling and fundraising.

He ended the quarter with $555,553 in cash on hand.

The attorney general formally entered the race on May 29.

Since then, Marshall has raised more than $824,209, records showed.

Former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson came in third in the third-quarter money race with a more than $330,861 haul. The entire total came from individual contributors.

Hudson spent about $175,000 during the quarter.

He ended the fundraising period with more than $357,038 in cash on hand.

Rodney Walker, a cattle farmer and businessman, loaned his campaign $325,000 and personally contributed another $50,000, records showed. He only reported $26.03 in contributions that were not from himself.

Morgan Murphy, a former Tuberville staffer who entered the race in late September, did not yet have fundraising figures on the FEC website.

The candidates’ fundraising totals were reported a month after Marshall led the Senate race’s only poll.

Marshall was the choice of 37% of respondents in The Alabama Poll, to 16% for Moore.

The poll found a large number — 40% — remain undecided.

Hudson got 7% while Walker got 1%.

On the Democratic side, Kyle Sweetser, a business owner and lifelong Alabama Republican who spoke at last summer’s Democratic National Convention, reported more than $21,688 in donations. He had more than $32,400 in cash on hand to end the quarter.

Dakarai Larriett, a business owner, Birmingham native, and University of Alabama graduate, did not show any fundraising numbers as of 6:27 p.m. Wednesday.

A report also did not show up for Mark Wheeler of Heflin, a Jacksonville State University graduate and chemist who works for a wire manufacturing company.