In the abbreviated reporting period following February’s primary election, 1st district Republican nominee Andy Harris raised just more than $400,000 and finished March with a little more than half — $205,000 — in cash on hand.

Harris, a conservative state Senator from Baltimore County, is looking to replace moderate Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R), the man he beat in February, in an Eastern Shore-based district that has been a Republican stronghold in Maryland. Harris, Gilchrest and state Sen. E.J. Pipkin’s GOP primary was a bruising and costly battle that drained Harris’ campaign coffers. According to Harris’ camp, the Republican nominee had spent almost $1.3 million on his campaign as of March 31 and still had about $20,000 in outstanding debt left over from the primary.

Harris is facing Queen Anne County State’s Attorney Frank Kratovil (D) in the general election. Kratovil, who has been trying to portray himself as a political moderate and rightful heir to Gilchrest’s legacy, raised about $190,000 in the just less than two months since the primary, according to his first quarter Federal Election Commission report. That total was $50,000 short of the $241,000 he had raised for the entire cycle leading up to the primary. Despite raising less money this quarter, Kratovil led Harris in cash on hand totals at the end of the reporting period with $214,000.

— John McArdle