Titus trails Porter in fundraising

State Sen. Dina Titus, the Democrat hoping to unseat Rep. Jon Porter in the 3rd Congressional District, kept up an aggressive fundraising pace last month but still has less than half of Porter's campaign war chest, according to campaign finance disclosures filed last week with the Federal Election Commission.

Titus took in $87,000 from July 1 to July 23, according to the report covering that period, while Porter took in $55,000.

Since she entered the race in April, Titus has raised $711,000, according to her most recent FEC disclosures. Porter, a three-term incumbent, has raised more than $2 million over the course of the campaign but less than Titus, $526,000, since March, the start of the first financial reporting period to which Titus was subject.

As of July 23, Porter had $1.2 million in cash on hand to Titus' $593,000.

Democrats touted Titus' rapid fundraising, saying the numbers "prove that the momentum is with Titus."

A Porter spokesman retorted that Titus had "failed to keep pace" with Porter's Democratic challengers of years past and noted that "the congressman holds a firm fundraising advantage."

The Porter-Titus race for the House of Representatives seat that includes mainly suburban parts of Clark County is considered one of the most competitive in the country. The race for another Republican-held congressional seat, pitting Democrat Jill Derby against Rep. Dean Heller in Northern Nevada, is thought to be a longer shot for Democrats.

The latest fundraising reports from that race show Heller continuing to hold a massive cash lead over Derby.

Heller raised $34,000 in the July 1-23 period, giving him total contributions of $1.2 million. He had about $1 million in cash on hand as of July 23.

Derby reported raising $26,000 in the July period and $465,273 in the total campaign. She reported about $314,000 in cash on hand on July 23.

Heller, Porter and Titus face primary contests Tuesday against little-known opponents to continue on to the general election.