Associated Press

Rep. Earl Pomeroy and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., have big leads over Republican challengers Matt Mechtel and Dwight Grotberg when it comes to campaign fundraising, their spending reports show.

The federal election reports show Mechtel, of Page, who is challenging Pomeroy, has raised $37,000 since he was endorsed at the state GOP convention in April and has $29,000 on hand as of June 30. He has donated $7,500 of his own money to the campaign.

Saturday was the deadline for federal candidates to report how much money they raised and spent between May 25 and June 30.

Mechtel said fundraising through June has not been as good as he expected, but he still feels excited about the race.

Pomeroy started the year with $715,000 and had $920,000 on hand June 30. He raised $131,000 between May 25 and June 30.

Republican Dwight Grotberg, of Sanborn, who is challenging Conrad, has raised $41,000 since he announced his candidacy in March. He has loaned $5,000 of his own funds to the campaign, and had $19,000 on hand as of June 30, the spending reports show.

Grotberg said he and supporters are "really excited to be going into a campaign" this summer and expect to see an increase in donations and spending.

"I don't think we've put in a significant amount of money yet, but I think we will," he said Monday.

Conrad started the year with $3.2 million in campaign cash and reported $3.5 million on hand June 30. He raised $205,000 between May 25 and June 30.