Candidates begin making final pitches prior to 12/31 deadline

Four and a half days remain of the year 2019, so with the end of the year, it’s also the end of the 4th quarter and that means the end of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) fundraising reporting period.

Candidates have begun making their last minute pitches for cash.

After the clock strikes midnight into 2020, the candidates have two weeks to prepare their FEC quarterly reports, known as a “Form 3” or “F3”. Once the candidate’s committee submits its F3 to the FEC, it becomes public and is a report card for how a candidate is doing financially, which ties directly to their messaging.

Here’s Sue Rezin’s fundraising letter she posted on her campaign Facebook page on Monday afternoon.

Commentary to follow:

Hi, Sue Rezin here.

We’ve got just two and a half months until the Primary election—AND December 31 is a huge fundraising deadline with all candidates having to report what they’ve raised. Success will breed success in raising more of the necessary funds to broadcast messages to voters over the heads of the media, while failure to raise money now will doom other campaigns.

This primary is about whether Republicans in the 14th District will nominate a WINNER—or one of two candidates with some of the worst records of losing elections in our state—or other candidates who have not been vetted by opposing Madigan’s and Cullerton’s Democrat candidates as I have.

I have won 5 out of 5 campaigns and withstood hurricanes of negative ads from Chicago Democrats while winning every single one of my campaigns.

Our primary choice in the 14th District will make or break the Republican Party’s chances in the general election.

Only IF we nominate someone people widely believe can win will we attract the national support to make this race one of the top ten U.S. House races in the nation in 2020.

Republicans have to win this seat to earn our way back to the majority. If we succeed, that means dethroning “Pelosi,” “the Squad,” and the impeachment Democrats.

It means whether the next two years will be like the last two years with an avalanche of subpoenas and endless investigations, or whether all that nonsense will stop with a Republican majority focused on working with President Trump in getting things done for real people.

This seat is too important to get wrong, and this moment is too big to sit on the sidelines.

That’s why I decided to run for Congress – I just couldn’t sit by and watch as our country slipped further and further away from us.

Results. Not Resistance.

That perfectly sums up what is at stake. Will you join me?

As we look back on 2019, and look forward into 2020, I hope you’ll join me in counting our blessings, and saying a prayer for our country and our future.

We’ve got some big days ahead of us, and I hope you’ll be by my side.

Thanks,
Sue Rezin

P.S. There are going to be plenty of ways to help in 2020. For now, your financial support before midnight on December 31st will help us build a winning campaign operation – click here to chip in $5, $25, $50, $100, or whatever you can give! Thanks – Sue

From Rezin for Congress Facebook post of 12/23/19
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COMMENTARY: State Senator Rezin’s letter is an honest one where she clearly plays up her strength to convince voters to invest in her campaign.

The 2nd full paragraph jumps out:

This primary is about whether Republicans in the 14th District will nominate a WINNER—or one of two candidates with some of the worst records of losing elections in our state—or other candidates who have not been vetted by opposing Madigan’s and Cullerton’s Democrat candidates as I have.

Emphasis added
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The two candidates she infers, one is obvious, her colleague in the state senate, Jim Oberweis.

But the other candidate in that context is clearly James Marter, whose unsuccessful primary challenges to then U.S. Senator Mark Kirk in 2016 and last year to 16th district Congressman Adam Kinzinger are well known.

To my knowledge in the course of this campaign, this is the first time any of the congressional candidates has taken a shot at Marter, even indirectly.

Marter has been taking shots at Rezin on a regular basis for over six months, and a Facebook meme from last night does so again, by name.

One must wonder, apart from the only quantifiable metric of Twitter followers where Marter’s now has 4,434 followers where just over a month ago he had fewer than 200, is there any other proof Marter’s congressional campaign has begun to resonate with primary voters, even at this early stage?

Additionally and as discussed yesterday, Marter has begun releasing policy/position papers, with yesterday’s paper on prescription drug prices being his most extensive, yet.

Other metrics, most notably, Marter’s own 4th quarter F3 filing, will confirm if his campaign has seen a spike of interest from voters and/or donors.

But quite revealing Rezin brought up Marter in her letter.