Winning Week for Friends of Traditional Banking

Winning Week for FOTB

What a week! It's taken a couple days of vote counting, but we now have some clarity on how our FOTB candidates did. Your impact made a HUGE difference in some very close races and may have even helped tip control of the US House of Representatives once all the dust has settled.

"Making a difference in close races is why TBA is a supporter of Friends of Traditional Banking," wrote Chris Furlow, president and CEO of Texas Bankers Association, to his members yesterday. "FOTB typically chooses to engage in three tight and consequential races across the country that can make an impact for the banking industry. We are proud to stand with them." We appreciate TBA and all our supporters.

Rep. David Schweikert said thank you specifically to Friends of Traditional Banking. "The help for our campaign is truly appreciated," he said to us. "It was an impressive way to support those who are aligned with you and who are in very tough districts--it was actually very smart."

Here's why:

Schweikert Eeks out a WIN

Rep. David Schweikert (AZ-1) is a past House Financial Services Committee member who is fighting for common sense tax and regulations on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. When FOTB endorsed him, it was a literal tie in the polls. An August 13 poll then had him down by 1.

FOTB members stepped up big, donating directly to his campaign so that Schweikert could get his message out to Arizona voters. With 73% of the votes now counted, they have finally called the race for Schweikert with a narrow 51.9 to 48.1 victory!

Nunn Wins First Reelection

Freshman Rep. Zach Nunn (IA-3) was in the fight of his life to be reelected in his Arizona swing district. The friendly House Financial Services Committee member's race was a tie when FOTB endorsed him. A September 12 poll had him down 3, then a Sep 22 one had him down 4.

FOTB support never waivered for Nunn and our member donations continued his way. In the end, Nunn pulled out a 51.9 to 48.1 victory!

Hovde Race Close Enough to Recount

It seemed a bit of a stretch for FOTB when we endorsed banker Eric Hovde, as he was down 7 and 8 points in the summer polls against popular incumbent Senator Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin. But we were so proud to see one of our own fighting so hard and so well in that race that we had to do our part.

Bankers stepped up for Hovde, and he ran a fantastic race. The polls narrowed each week, and as of this morning the margin is less than one percent: Baldwin with 49.4 to Hovde's 48.5. This is within the margin to request a recount.

Regardless of which way it stands in the end, Friends of Traditional Banking is immensely proud of Eric Hovde and of our decision to jump in to help in that race!

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PAID for by Friends of Traditional Banking. NOT authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Friends of Traditional Banking is a non-partisan grassroots effort organized by bankers in 2012 to improve the political and regulatory environment for the traditional banking industry in the U.S. FOTB is the inverse of a PAC--instead of spreading a little bit of money to a lot of campaigns, they focus a lot of money on a couple of key campaigns.