Schweich hauls in $257K

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich has announced that he raised $257,521 in the year’s first quarter.

That’s not a bad haul, and the total put him within striking distance of the $308,000 that fellow Republican Catherine Hanaway raised in the year’s first three months.

Schweich is seeking re-election as auditor this year. But he’s also hinted that he’s running for governor in 2016. Hanaway has already announced her candidacy for the state’s highest office.

Insiders were watching to see if Schweich could keep pace with the former House speaker.

Hanaway surely will insist that she raised her money in just a few weeks after announcing her candidacy for governor in February. Schweich backers will note that the first money you raise is always the easiest. They’ll want to see if Hanaway can keep up the pace in the second quarter.

Schweich said he had about $830,000 in the bank for his re-election bid. No Democrat is challenging him.

“This support is one of the reasons that the Democrats were unable to field an opponent for this cycle — the first time this has happened in 144 years,” he said in a statement.

This story was originally published April 16, 2014 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Schweich hauls in $257K."