McBath restocks campaign account in swing 6th District race

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath speaks during a town hall at Dunwoody High School on Saturday, June 8, 2019.  (Photo: Branden Camp/Special to the AJC)

U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath speaks during a town hall at Dunwoody High School on Saturday, June 8, 2019. (Photo: Branden Camp/Special to the AJC)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath collected about $670,000 over the last three months and has roughly $930,000 in the bank as she prepares for a formidable challenge in her swing north Atlanta district.

The newest member of Georgia’s congressional delegation and the most vulnerable, the first-term Democrat is facing pressure to quickly restock her campaign coffers to ready for a rematch against former Rep. Karen Handel or another Republican.

McBath’s campaign said Monday it has received thousands of contributions and that the average online donor gave less than $50. Her full financial report is set to be posted later this month.

The 6th District, which stretches from east Cobb to north DeKalb, is home to one of the mostly watched and volatile races in the nation. Long solidly Republican territory, Handel narrowly knocked off Democrat Jon Ossoff in a 2017 special election that became a magnet for national political attention.

But the script was flipped last year when McBath, a former flight attendant who became a gun control activist after her son was killed in a 2012 shooting, narrowly defeated Handel as Democrats swept through Atlanta’s suburbs.

She’s since kept a focus on health care and gun policy messages that helped fuel her victory, while steering clear of joining more liberal colleagues who urge the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Handel, who announced her comeback bid in March, earlier reported raising nearly $240,000 in about a week with help from several U.S. House GOP allies. She has yet to report her latest fundraising figures.

But unlike 2018, she must first face rival Republicans. Other 6th District contenders include state Sen. Brandon Beach, Navy Reserves veteran Nicole Rodden and commercial real estate executive Marjorie Taylor Greene.