--- title: Mitch McConnell's Democratic Challenger Alison Grimes Outraises Him description: Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has outpaced the Senate minority leader in fundraising for the second time — though McConnell still has over twice as much cash in the bank canonical: https://time.com/63738/grimes-outraises-mcconnell/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-15T18:12:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:19:09.878Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mitch McConnell's Democratic Challenger Alison Grimes Outraises Him og:description: Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has outpaced the Senate minority leader in fundraising for the second time — though McConnell still has over twice as much cash in the bank og:url: https://time.com/63738/grimes-outraises-mcconnell/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7da58161243d1465/69868ac2e53aba18704d20f9/lundergan-grimes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Kentucky Democratic Senate Candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes listens as Former President Bill Clinton delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Galt House Hotel on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 in Louisville, Ky. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitch McConnell's Democratic Challenger Alison Grimes Outraises Him twitter:description: Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has outpaced the Senate minority leader in fundraising for the second time — though McConnell still has over twice as much cash in the bank twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7da58161243d1465/69868ac2e53aba18704d20f9/lundergan-grimes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # McConnell's Democratic Challenger Outraises Him in First Quarter > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Apr 15, 2014 6:12 PM UTC  Kentucky Democratic Senate Candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes listens as Former President Bill Clinton delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Galt House Hotel on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 in Louisville, Ky. Kentucky Democratic Senate Candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes listens as Former President Bill Clinton delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Galt House Hotel on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 in Louisville, Ky. Luke Sharrett—Getty Images  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Apr 15, 2014 6:12 PM UTC Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes reported raising over $2.7 million in the first quarter of 2014, beating Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s haul of $2.4 million. McConnell is facing a primary challenger, Matt Bevin, who raised $1.2 million this cycle. McConnell has raised a total of $22.3 million this cycle, but has also had a high burn rate, spending more than $12 million already. The Senate minority leader spent nearly $3 million in the first quarter, about 120% the amount he took in. McConnell leads Bevin by more than 30 points in polls ahead of the May 20 primary. But he trails Grimes by 0.5% in a Real Clear Politics average of Kentucky polls. “McConnell’s spent more than $12 million and he’s still behind Alison in the polls,” Grimes senior adviser Jonathan Hurst tells TIME. Although Grimes outraised McConnell this quarter, the Kentucky senator can still boast $10.4 million cash on hand to Grimes’ nearly $5 million. Grimes reported more than 45,000 donors, hailing from all 50 states and all 120 Kentucky counties. **MORE:** [**Should Mitch McConnell be on the 2014 TIME 100?**](http://time.com/pollus) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/63738/grimes-outraises-mcconnell/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/63738/grimes-outraises-mcconnell/"},"headline":"McConnell's Democratic Challenger Outraises Him in First Quarter","datePublished":"2014-04-15T18:12:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:19:09.878Z","description":"Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes has outpaced the Senate minority leader in fundraising for the second time — though McConnell still has over twice as much cash in the bank","url":"https://time.com/63738/grimes-outraises-mcconnell/","keywords":["Senate","Mitch McConnell","Alison Lundergan Grimes","Kentucky","2014 midterm elections"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7da58161243d1465/69868ac2e53aba18704d20f9/lundergan-grimes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jay Newton-Small","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7da58161243d1465/69868ac2e53aba18704d20f9/lundergan-grimes.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kentucky Democratic Senate Candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes listens as Former President Bill Clinton delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Galt House Hotel on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 in Louisville, Ky.","caption":"Kentucky Democratic Senate Candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes listens as Former President Bill Clinton delivers remarks during a campaign event at the Galt House Hotel on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014 in Louisville, Ky.","creditText":"Luke Sharrett—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/63738/grimes-outraises-mcconnell/","name":"McConnell's Democratic Challenger Outraises Him in First Quarter"}}]}] ```