After two consecutive weak fundraising quarters, embattled California Rep. Duncan Hunter finally posted a fundraising quarter in which he raised more than he spent.The Republican has been dogged by a federal criminal investigation about spending campaign finance cash for personal use.The investigation led him to spend more on legal feesthan he raised for the past two fundraising quarters.But Hunter raised $210,268 for the first quarter of 2018 while spending $191,678, according to Rob Pyers, who runs California Target Book. Huh. After posting progressively awful fundraising reports throughout 2017, embattled #CA50 Republican @Rep_Hunter bounces back with $210,268 raised in Q1. He spent $191,678 , with only 40% of that total going to legal fees this quarter. https://t.co/JGFZaCEx3x — Rob Pyers (@rpyers) April 16, 2018var rcrdTwitter = 1;Still, Pyers noted that Hunter has spent 90 percent of all of his campaign cash on legal fees, for a total of $614,492. For those keeping track, #CA50 @Rep_Hunter's campaign has now raised $681,364 this election cycle and spent over 90% ($614,492) on legal fees. Q1 '17 $69,393 Q2 '17 $152,860 Q3 '17 $134,794 Q4 '17 $178,168 Q1 '18 $79,277 — Rob Pyers (@rpyers) April 16, 2018var rcrdTwitter = 1;Hunter also outraised his Democratic challengers.Former Obama administration official Ammar Campa-Najjar raised a total of $205,242.99, while retired Navy SEAL Josh Butner raised $176,226.58 between Jan. 1 and March 31 of this year.Hunter’s perceived weakness has caused the contest between Campa-Najjar and Butner to turn ugly.Butner saying Campa-Najjar was involved with a website that tied Butner’s father to the Ku Klux Klan.Campa-Najjar said Butner’s campaign was behind a new story tying Campa-Najjar to his grandfather, who was a terrorist but died before Campa-Najjar was born.Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales still rates California’s 50th District as Likely Republican. Correction, April 16, 2018, 12:28 p.m. | A previous version of this story misstated Butner’s fundraising total.
