Montana Republican congressional candidate Ryan Zinke announced Monday that he had another record-breaking fundraising total of $460,760 for the first quarter of 2014.

Combined with contributions during the fourth quarter of 2013, Zinke’s campaign has raised more than $908,000. That is the most that any at-large U.S. House candidate in Montana has raised during the first five months of a campaign for an open seat.

Robert Kearley, Zinke’s campaign manager, said the closest was in 2000 when Dennis Rehberg raised over $500,000 during a similar time period.

Kearley said he still is “crunching the numbers” about the proportion of donations coming from out-of-state and in-state donors. Those figures eventually will be revealed in documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Zinke, a former Whitefish state senator and retired Navy SEAL, came under some scrutiny for receiving nearly 26 percent of his total contributions through last Dec. 31, or about $116,000, from executives and employees associated with billionaire William B. Foley II, a part-time Montana resident and majority shareholder of Whitefish Mountain Resort. 

Foley is the founder and board chairman of Fidelity National Financial Inc., a  Florida company.

About 18 percent of Zinke’s contributions through the end of last year came from Montanans, while three other candidates in the race reported receiving about 45 percent from Montanans by Dec. 31.

At a press conference Monday at his newly opened Kalispell campaign headquarters at Main and Idaho streets, Zinke said contributions will become increasingly “more balanced” with in-state donors as his campaign ground game gains momentum. 

He said the early stage of the campaign has involved fundraising events in other states and he said he receives contributions from veterans around the country.

Opponents of his campaign, he added, “try to talk about raising money like it’s a bad thing,” when he considers it to be an expression of support for his candidacy.

“We’ve had enormous support,” he said.

Zinke’s staff emphasized that Zinke has made no personal loans to his campaign. That’s in contrast to state Sen. Matt Rosendale, R-Glendive, who has loaned his campaign $500,000.

Other candidates seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. House are Corey Stapleton, Drew Turiano and Elsie Arntzen. 

Democrats John Lewis and John Driscoll are competing for their party’s nomination while Libertarian Mike Fellows rounds out the slate of House candidates.

They all are vying to succeed U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who is running for U.S. Senate.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.