Every time US Representative Seth Moulton is asked whether he is thinking about running for president, he has responded that he is entirely focused on Democrats winning back the US House in 2018.
Three years in advance, few actually admit they are running for president even when that’s exactly what they are doing. But in Moulton’s case, new campaign finance data suggest he might be telling the truth.
Apart from House Democratic leadership, which includes Nancy Pelosi, no other member of Congress has raised more to help other Democratic candidates than Moulton, according to a source familiar with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee rankings.
Advertisement
A fund-raising report released Sunday showed that Moulton, a Salem Democrat, raised more than $313,000 for his own reelection campaign in the last three months. That’s in addition to the more than $600,000 that he helped raise on behalf of other House candidates he has endorsed around the country.
Moulton’s support might have gone a long way. Seven of the 12 Democratic candidates Moulton is supporting outraised the Republican incumbents they are challenging.
If you combine Moulton’s personal haul with the money he raised for other candidates — $913,000 in total — it’s an impressive tally for an ambitious politician who might run for president someday. This aggressive fund-raising for House colleagues is also a time-honored path by which one becomes a committee chairman or even House speaker. Stay tuned.
James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his Ground Game newsletter on politics: http://pages.email.bostonglobe.com/GroundGameSignUp.