Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming’s campaign filings show something a bit unusual: He lent his own Senate campaign $2 million in March, and then he took the money right back.
He says it’s part of his normal practice when running for elections.
“Two million dollars is a lot of money to sit into an account that has no return on investment and no interest,” Fleming told NOTUS. “So I put it back into my pool of investments, where it will grow. … Off the top of my head, I may have made [$10,000 to] $15,000 or more while that was sitting in my investment account. So why in the world would I let it be dead in a campaign account?”
Fleming told NOTUS that he’s used this financial tactic in “previous elections” and that he plans to do this “every quarter until the election.”
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Fleming, who’s challenging Sen. Bill Cassidy for his seat, raised $2.1 million in the second quarter, an impressive figure for a Senate campaign challenger. But his most recent Federal Election Commission filings show that nearly all of that cash, $2 million, came from another loan he gave his campaign in June.
Fleming previously loaned his campaign $2 million in March, before withdrawing the money to fund his personal investments. In effect, the candidate raised only about $100,000 in new money from April to June, far below what political strategists consider the minimum fundraising threshold necessary to defeat an incumbent.
“I might put more in next time, but I want it to be ready to go when I want to use it,” Fleming continued. “But I can easily transfer it back and forth. It’s totally permissible. I’ve checked it with the experts, attorneys and everything.”
It’s legal for candidates to move money the way Fleming has, but it could be considered misleading by operatives who assess the seriousness of a candidacy based on how much money they raise per fundraising quarter. This practice also creates questions about how he will fund campaign operations when he’s constantly removing such a large amount of money.
Cassidy’s campaign team has already tried to make an issue of it, noting in a press release that Fleming “did not raise $2.1 million last quarter.” Fleming said that the release was a product of Cassidy being “desperate to find something to criticize me about.”
“He tried to make it as though I was being deceitful, like I was trying to make it appear like I raised $2 million when I really didn’t,” Fleming said. “But if I wanted to do that, I would have done a press release to the public. I would have made all kinds of claims and benefited from that if that were my desire.”
Fleming, a former congressman who served in President Donald Trump’s first administration in multiple positions, including as deputy chief of staff, is one of the Republicans running against Cassidy. Cassidy is facing what could be his toughest reelection campaign in his overwhelmingly red state. He is facing pressure from the right due to some of his stances, including voicing skepticism about Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his confirmation process, which left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Louisiana Republicans.
He was also one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The Republican Party of Louisiana censured him a month after the vote.
Cassidy’s filings, meanwhile, showed that he’s still the best fundraiser in his race. His campaign raised $1.6 million in the second quarter of this year, according to his most recent FEC filings. His campaign said that number rises to $2.1 million when including funds from his “associated joint fundraising committees.” In the first quarter, Cassidy raised a little over $1 million and ended it with nearly $7.5 million on hand. That cash on hand number rose to $8.7 million at the end of the most recent quarter.
State Sen. Blake Miguez, who entered the race last month and called Cassidy one of several “weak Republicans” in his campaign video, raised $1.8 million in the second quarter. However, much of that amount comes from a $1 million loan that he made to his campaign.
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Verite News.
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