Tom Cotton

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., ended the first quarter of the year by maintaining his financial advantage over Democrat Hallie Shoffner and other candidates running in this year's Senate contest.

Candidates for federal office filed quarterly fundraising reports with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, more than a month after Arkansas held its statewide primary. Arkansans running for federal office also filed reports Feb. 19 disclosing preprimary spending for the March 3 election.

According to FEC data, the Cotton for Senate campaign finished March with nearly $9.8 million cash on hand, a $117,000 increase from its Feb. 11 position. Cotton, of Little Rock, reported $598,000 in total contributions and $776,000 in total distributions since Feb. 12.

The senator additionally received more than $263,000 in transfers from authorized political committees, including two transactions totaling $244,000 from the Cotton Majority Committee. The joint fundraising committee's participants include Cotton's Senate campaign, the NRSC (Senate Republicans' campaign arm), the Republican Majority Fund(Cotton's leadership PAC) and the America One super PAC.

Land of Opportunity PAC, Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman's leadership PAC, contributed $10,000 to Cotton. Other recent campaign donations to the senator include $5,000 from Tyson Foods' PAC, $2,500 from Arkansas Farm Bureau Federal Ag PAC, and $2,500 from Major League Baseball's PAC.

The senator seeks a third term representing Arkansas in Congress' upper chamber, hoping to continue a tenure that currently involves leading the Senate Intelligence Committee and serving as the third-highest-ranked Republican within the Senate GOP conference.

Cotton easily won the March 3 primary, soundly defeating challenges from Cabot's Micah Ashby and Harrison's Jeb Little.

Shoffner, of Little Rock, reported $352,000 in total contributions and around $278,000 in total disbursements from Feb. 12 to March 31. The Hallie Shoffner for Arkansas campaign ended March with $579,000 in its reserves, a jump from around $504,000 on Feb. 11.

Shoffner did not report any PAC contributions supporting her campaign. The Saline County Democratic Committee, the Carroll County Democratic Central Committee and the Virginia Clinton Kelley Democratic Women's Club donated a combined $2,000 to the Hallie Shoffner for Arkansas campaign.

Shoffner, a multi-generational farmer, launched her Senate bid last July following her family's decision to close their 2,000-acre farm near Newport. She has cited the ongoing challenges facing Arkansas' agriculture sector as well as the state's low rankings in areas such as health and food security as reasons for seeking federal office.

Shoffner defeated Lewisville Mayor Ethan Dunbar in the March primary. Dunbar -- who has endorsed Shoffner -- filed a termination report last month with the FEC, noting his campaign ended with around $1,100 cash on hand.

Libertarian Jeff Wadlin had not filed a quarterly fundraising report with the commission at the time of this article's publication. The Libertarian Party of Arkansas nominated Wadlin, of Bentonville, as the party's Senate candidate during its February convention.

Arkansas is not considered a battleground state in this year's midterm elections. Republicans have held all of the state's six federal offices since January 2015, when Cotton succeeded Democrat Mark Pryor in the Senate.

Two super PACS have waded into the race. America One last month spent $74,600 on text messages supporting Cotton and nearly $1.2 million on anti-Shoffner media production and placement. Arkansans for Democracy and Justice -- which lists an address in Mountain Brook, Ala., in its financial report -- reported $36,000 in expenses for text messages opposing Shoffner.

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., will not face reelection until 2028. Boozman, of Rogers, ended the recent quarter with almost $1.3 million in his campaign's coffers.