It’s an old example, but consider the following from the January 2012 edition of Political Diary:
“If you thought Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown's $3.2 million fundraising haul in the fourth quarter last year was impressive, think again. The campaign for his opponent, Harvard law professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, announced Wednesday a jaw-dropping $5.7 million haul over the same period. And it's only January.
“Campaign donations are pouring into the Bay State because the Brown-Warren contest is one of the few toss-ups in an election year widely expected to be dominated by Republican victories in the upper chamber.”
The important thing to note here is that Warren was getting big-time contributions from folks who didn’t live anywhere near her state, let alone in it.
Why? Because her race could have been the difference between whether Democrats or Republicans controlled the Senate after November’s elections.
Which meant Democrats in Alaska, Idaho, Texas and every other state who didn’t want Republicans to control the Senate had a vested interest in seeing to it that Republican Brown was defeated.
Which presented a fundraising opportunity to expand the prospect list for Warren that few other U.S. Senate candidates could capitalize on.
It’s the same kind of opportunity Republican Sharron Angle enjoyed in 2010 in her race against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Nevada. In that race, Angle raised some $25 million…most of which came from donors OUTSIDE of Nevada.
Look for opportunities for your own campaign to raise money from people and organizations outside your district, as well.
If you’re pro-gun, for example, and your opponent is demonstrably hostile to gun rights, you likely have an opportunity to raise money from gun owners outside your district who have an interest in defeating the gun-grabber even if they don’t live in your district…and maybe even in your state.