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List of lawmakers losing fundraising race is dominated by the scandal-plagued

Several incumbent lawmakers who are giving off the whiff of scandal have another worry on top of their legal woes: They aren’t keeping up with their challengers, many from within their own parties, in the fundraising arena.

Take Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), who’s facing a rematch against Ro Khanna, a former Obama administration official whom Honda defeated by less than 5,000 votes in 2014. The Office of Congressional Ethics says that Honda and his staffers “may have improperly tied official activities…to past or potential campaign or political support” and “may have used official resources to benefit his campaigns,” according to a Sept. 3 report by the nonpartisan, quasi-independent watchdog, which referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee.

Now, Honda is one of seven incumbents trailing their challengers in fundraising as ofSept. 30, federal records show, making his road to re-election especially perilous.

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