Congressional hopeful Domenic Recchia raised $261,693 last month—more than 11 times the amount raised by indicted incumbent Congressman Michael Grimm.
Recchia pulled in the cash between June 5 and June 30, while Mr. Grimm raised just $23,430 in that same period of time.
With cash no longer coming Mr. Grimm’s way from the national party after he was indicted for cheating on taxes while he ran a health food restaurant, Mr. Grimm’s small haul came from 18 donors, most of them locals within the district handing over relatively small amounts.
In stark contrast, national support flowed last month to Mr. Recchia, who received money from the campaigns of incumbent Democratic members of Congress, a slew of PACs—representing the interests groups ranging from Turkish New Jersey residents to wine and beer wholesalers to steamfitters—and got help from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Mr. Recchia also received a boost from some notable individual donors—$2,600 from George Soros, the billionaire investor and supporter of Democratic causes; $338 from Jeffrey Wilpon, the COO of the New York Mets; and $700 from Barbara Streisand, famed songstress and actress. (None of those heavy hitters live in the district, which spans all of Staten Island and a sliver of South Brooklyn, though Babs is famously from Brooklyn.)
But Mr. Recchia emphasized his local support.
“We’ve been running a strong grassroots campaign from the very beginning, and today’s filings are a reflection of the effort we will continue to pour into our volunteer-based infrastructure,” he said in a statement.
While they had very different Junes, Mr. Recchia and Mr. Grimm have similar war chests. Mr. Recchia has just under $1.3 million on hand going into the summer. Mr. Grimm, boosted by strong fundraising before his indictment, has just under $1.1 million—though he owes more than $438,000 mostly in legal fees, while his opponent has no debt.
In defending his lackluster fundraising, as reported by The Observer, Mr. Grimm knocked Mr. Recchia for raising his money by “desperate seat shopping among the City’s ultra-liberal elite,” and said that Staten Island voters would find his past votes on issues like property tax hikes out of step with their interests.
In his statement, Mr. Recchia hit back, saying voters would “energize to bring new leadership” to the district.
“Middle class families of Staten Island and Brooklyn deserve better than an indicted Congressman who spends more time defending himself from his legal troubles than he does engaging with the people he represents,” he said. “I know that with the continued support of the hardworking men and women of this district, together we will make sure that families from Tottenville to Gravesend get a seat at the table.”
This story has been updated to include comment from Mr. Recchia.