The money competition is on in the 3rd Congressional District race.

Democratic incumbent Ben Ray Luján, who is serving his first term, raised more than $83,000 in the last three months, according to reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission.

A political newcomer, Adam Kokesh, who is running in the Republican congressional primary for the 3rd District, filed a report showing he has raised more than $104,000. However, Kokesh's report includes numbers going back to late April. At least $10,000 of that was raised before the third quarter. Kokesh said last week that his total for the past three months is about $80,000.

Luján has far more money in the bank than Kokesh. In the previous quarter, before Kokesh officially had declared his candidacy, Luján raised nearly $160,000. The congressman's cash-on-hand total at the end of the quarter was more than $196,000, while Kokesh had more than $31,000.

However, Kokesh pointed out that Luján's report showed unpaid debts of $115,000.

As a Democrat, Luján enjoys a large advantage in party registration in the 3rd District, where Democrats enjoy a better than 2-1 edge over Republicans.

Kokesh, a former Marine and longtime anti-war activist, learned Thursday that he'll have an opponent in the GOP primary. Tom Mullins, a Farmington engineer and political newcomer, said he'll formally announce his candidacy Saturday. Because he hasn't declared his candidacy yet, Mullins did not have to file a report for the past quarter.

Luján's contributions include $4,795 from Act Blue, an online clearing house for contributions to Democrats.

More than $27,000 came from political action committees. Among these were Leadership for New Mexico, a Virginia-based PAC which contributed $4,000; the Ironworkers Political Action League ($5,000); the American fhand Association PAC (which has given a total of $450,000 this election cycle); the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association ($3,500 this cycle); the Action Committee for Rural Electrification ($3,000 this cycle); the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC ($3,000 this cycle); and Qwest Communications ($3,000 this cycle).

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, a gaming tribe in Southern California, gave Luján $4,800. The Mescalero Apache Tribe from Southern New Mexico gave Luján $1,000 in September for a total of $3,300 this cycle.

Nearly all of Kokesh's contributions were $250 or less and the major contributors listed were from out of state. Kokesh has been endorsed by libertarian Republican icon Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and enjoys support from Paul's "liberty" movement.

Most of Kokesh's supporters have come nowhere near giving the maximum contribution of $2,400, which could be good for the campaign because it can continue to hit up those donors for cash.

He had a handful of large contributors. He received $2,400 contributions from his father Charles Kokesh; Grant Winthrop, a student in Beverly Hills, Calif.; Peter Schiff, president of Europac, an investment company in Connecticut; Joseph Archibald, a manager of HSBC Bank in Connecticut; and Lawrence Lepard, a finance manager for Equity Management Associates in Massachusetts. Rancher Susan Ruch donated $2,300.

Kokesh gave his campaign more than $5,000.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.

ON THE WEB

Luján's campaign finance report:http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00443689/436084

Kokesh's campaign finance report: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00463612/436093/