AP Wire

Vitter lags Edwards in latest fundraising

by Melinda Deslatte, Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Democrat John Bel Edwards is outraising Republican rival David Vitter in the Louisiana governor's race runoff campaign, as Edwards remains the surprise front-runner in the election.

Campaigns for the two candidates announced Thursday how much money they've raised for the Nov. 21 runoff, as new fundraising reports were due.

Edwards' campaign says since the Oct. 24 primary, the Democratic state representative has received $4.5 million in contributions.

Vitter's campaign — whose initial fundraising prowess dwarfed his competitors for governor — says the U.S. senator has raised $2.6 million since the primary.

That's a turnaround from earlier in the campaign, before the race was whittled to two contenders. Ahead of the primary, Vitter had outraised Edwards three-to-one and had brought in nearly as much cash as his three major competitors combined.