Last month, House Democratic leaders signaled their view that the 1st district race is very much in play this fall by adding Queen Anne County State’s Attorney Frank Kratovil (D) to their “Red to Blue” fundraising and infrastructure program.

On Tuesday, Kratovil offered some justification for that assessment by filing a second-quarter Federal Election Commission report that showed he had $454,000 in cash on hand at the end of June.

Kratovil raised $376,000 between April and June, his best quarter of the cycle by far. Over the past three months, Kratovil was the beneficiary of a couple of high-profile events with Democratic leaders, including a June fundraising breakfast with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

Kratovil’s Republican opponent, state Sen. Andy Harris, who beat incumbent Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R) in a nasty three-way primary fight, reported $609,000 in cash on hand, a total that includes a $100,000 personal loan made by Harris to his campaign on the last day of the June reporting period.

Harris raised $532,000 for the quarter. He’s raised a massive $2.03 million for the cycle, but his high-profile and expensive primary battle in February forced his campaign to essentially start from scratch on the fundraising front.

Kratovil, who has positioned himself as the ideological heir of the moderate-Gilchrest and hired several of Gilchrest’s former staffers to help his campaign, has raised $811,000 for the cycle so far.