Monica Wehby

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley raised almost $2.15 million during the last three months, an amount his campaign claims is a fundraising record for a quarter in Oregon politics.

The haul leaves the Democrat’s campaign with $1.38 million in cash on hand heading into the final weeks of the race against Republican Monica Wehby, a neurosurgeon from Portland.

“Jeff’s proud of the tremendous support he’s received from small donors and newspapers across Oregon, and that’s reflected by more than 150,000 contributions we’ve received during this campaign, giving us a strong fundraising advantage and big momentum heading into the final stretch of the election,” campaign spokeswoman Lindsey O’Brien said in a prepared statement.

The deadline for filing third-quarter financial reports with the Federal Election Commission is Wednesday.

Wehby spokesman Dean Petrone said in an email the campaign would release its third-quarter totals “in the near future” and declined to comment further.

A first-term senator defending his seat, Merkley has raised more than $11 million since he took office in 2009, including the funds raised between July 1 and Sept. 30.

FEC filings through June 30 show Merkley has outraised Wehby each quarter since she declared her candidacy in October 2013. Since then, she has raised $2.05 million, while Merkley has raised $3.8 million over the same period.

Heading into July, Merkley had $3.5 million cash on hand to Wehby’s $647,000.

Debates

The candidates are scheduled to meet in a televised debate hosted by KOBI, an NBC affiliate in Medford, on Tuesday.

The campaigns have sparred over the number of joint public appearances in recent weeks, with Wehby missing a candidates’ interview with the Willamette Week newspaper and KGW’s deadline to accept a debate hosted by the Portland station. Wehby countered by proposing four additional dates at various forums, but Merkley has not committed to any of the dates.

The Wehby campaign says the only possible date remaining is Oct. 24 at the City Club of Portland since Merkley has rejected the other three.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group that monitors money in politics, Freedom Partners Action Fund, a super PAC affiliated with the oil billionaire Koch brothers, has spent more than $1 million on advertising that criticizes Merkley. In recent weeks, Freedom Partners has stopped spending in Oregon and has instead spent money opposing independent Greg Orman in Kansas and opposing Democrat incumbent Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Udall of Colorado and in support of Republican challenger Joni Ernst in Iowa.

Polls project those races as more competitive than Oregon’s, and Republican victories in those states could help secure a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 2006.

—  Reporter: 202-662-7456, aclevenger@bendbulletin.com