Heading into the June 12 primary, two of the three Democratic contenders in the 2nd Congressional District match up pretty closely in their fundraising efforts.

The top fundraiser among the trio is Jared Golden of Lewiston, who has raked in $698,000 overall for his campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, a two-term Republican.

But Lucas St. Clair isn’t far off the pace, raising $541,000 for his campaign.

According to their pre-primary Federal Election Commission filings this week, Golden has $116,000 on hand for the final two weeks of the primary while St. Clair has $107,000.

The other candidate, Craig Olson, has raised $116,000 and has $29,000 left for the final push.

No matter which of the three emerges victorious in the primary, he will face an immediate problem: Poliquin, who has raised $2.7 million for his race, still has $2.3 million in his campaign coffers.

But national interest in the race remains high as Democrats eye Poliquin as a potentially vulnerable incumbent during a midterm election where opponents of President Donald Trump hope they can snatch control of the U.S. House from the GOP.

As a result, there is likely to be a lot of campaign cash spent in the district by November, including millions by outside groups that are not connected to a particular candidate.

scollins@sunjournal.com

Federal Election Commission reports detail the donations received by candidates’ campaigns and their spending in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race.