Syracuse University professor Dana Balter’s congressional campaign enters February with about $47,000 in cash on hand as she ramps up her bid to challenge Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) this fall.

Balter, a visiting assistant teaching professor in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, hired a finance director last December to help coordinate her 24th Congressional District run.

That finance director, Nick Paprocki, worked on Hala Ayala’s successful Virginia House of Delegates campaign last fall. Ayala, a Democrat, upset a four-term Republican incumbent as part of a larger Democratic sweep of the House of Delegates that drew widespread national attention.

Katko’s seat has been targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a significant race this fall in a broader effort to regain majority control of the House of Representatives.

“People all over the country who care about flipping the House of Representatives have a stake in our race,” Balter said on Friday. “We’re going to be looking for donors everywhere.”

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Balter, who’s working on a Ph.D. in public administration at SU, trailed behind Katko in the amount of cash her campaign had on hand at the start of the new year. Her campaign had just under $47,000, while Katko had more than $1.1 million in funds, Federal Election Commission records show. Balter launched her campaign on Sept. 17.

“Our fundraising has definitely kicked up a notch,” Balter said. “We raised the majority of the money that we raised last year in the month of December.”

More than half of Katko’s campaign money came from political action committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. PACs that contributed to Katko in 2017 included Prosperity Action, which was founded by House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Only 0.14 percent of Balter’s campaign money came from PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The SU professor isn’t the only Democratic candidate hoping to square off against Katko, a two-term incumbent who has become particularly unpopular among local activist groups for voting to approve the Republican Party’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Other challengers are also bidding for the party’s nomination.

Anne Messenger, a career management professional from Manlius, is the only Democratic candidate whose campaign was close to Balter’s in the amount of cash on hand at the start of the year, FEC records show.

Messenger’s campaign had just over $37,000 in cash on hand, records show. She also outraised Balter in 2017, with almost $101,000 to Balter’s roughly $73,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But Messenger, a founding board member of the Near Westside Initiative, spent more more than $63,000 to Balter’s total spending of about $27,000, records show.

“We’ve just got to continue to raise money … we’re working real hard on that,” Messenger said on Saturday, standing in the Teamsters Local 317 hall on Spencer Street following a congressional candidate forum hosted by the Onondaga County Democratic Committee.

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Her campaign hired Berger Hirschberg Strategies, a finance firm based in New York City, to work on the race, Messenger said.

Berger Hirschberg Strategies has previously been hired by dozens of prominent politicians across the country to work campaigns. The firm has “single-handedly” raised more than $2.5 million for New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s election efforts, according to its website.

Scott Comegys, a farmer from Wayne County who’s also in the race, only had $232 in cash on hand at the start of 2018, records show. Bill Bass, an environmental scientist who moved to central New York from Saudi Arabia to enter the congressional race, declared his candidacy last month and has not reported any financial activity to the FEC.

Phil LaTessa, a former city of Syracuse auditor, is still listed as a 24th Congressional District candidate on Ballotpedia, but was not at the OCDC’s forum and has not reported any financial activity to the FEC.

Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner considered challenging Katko, but ruled out a campaign in late January.

Before candidates spoke to the packed union hall on Saturday, Mark English, the OCDC’s chairman, said in his opening remarks there’s “a lot at stake this year.”

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“I teach courses in citizenship and policy, and administration and democracy. And I’ve decided to run for Congress because Donald Trump threatens everything I teach my students,” said Balter during the OCDC forum. “We have a congressperson here who refuses to stand up and speak against that.”

Democratic committees from Cayuga, Oswego and Wayne counties will vote on Wednesday to decide which candidate they plan to support. The OCDC will hold a similar vote on Feb. 24. The Democratic primary is June 26.

Published on February 5, 2018 at 12:42 am

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek