Former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz, one of two Republicans jockeying for the chance to challenge Democratic incumbent Susie Lee in the state’s 3rd Congressional District, announced he raised more than $565,000 through 2019, leaving his campaign with more than $447,000 cash on hand. 

Schwartz’s campaign did not release specifics on his fourth-quarter fundraising in a press release sent Monday morning, but comparisons to campaign receipts from the third quarter show his campaign raised roughly $300,000 in the final three months of the year. 

Of that total, about $250,000 came from personal loans, according to the Schwartz campaign. That amount more than doubles Schwartz’s personal contributions to his own congressional bid since he entered the race last summer. 

In the third quarter of 2019, roughly $180,000 in loans from Schwartz to his campaign boosted his fundraising total to about $264,000, keeping him on-par with fellow Republican candidate and former pro-wrestler Dan Rodimer, who raised $251,000 — of which $65,000 came from loans. 

Still, even with increased war chest, Schwartz lags far behind Lee in the fundraising race for District 3. Lee announced earlier this month that her campaign brought in more than $600,000 in the fourth quarter, pushing her cash on hand past $1.5 million entering 2020.

District 3 is a swingy district encompassing much of the southern half of Clark County, including many of Las Vegas’ wealthiest suburbs. Though the seat has swung between both major parties since its creation in 2003, it has been held by Democrats since the narrow, 1-point victory by now-Sen. Jacky Rosen in 2016. 

Lee, who ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 4 in 2016, rode a statewide blue wave in 2018 to a 9-point victory in District 3. 

Still, Lee — whose district voted for Trump by a 1-point margin in 2016 — has become one of about three dozen moderate freshman Democrats in the crosshairs of a national Republican Party looking to regain control of the House. Since August of last year, Lee has been the target of multiple high-priced attack ad campaigns looking to pressure her on the issue of impeachment.