Two Democratic candidates running for U.S. Senate missed a deadline to submit campaign finance figures to the Federal Election Commission.
First-quarter fundraising reports covering the months of January, February and March were due by April 15. But Democratic candidate Natalie James of Little Rock has not filed the report with the FEC as of Tuesday, according to a search of the commission's website.
The FEC filings give insight into the financial operations of a congressional campaign. The reports outline information on who is funding a candidate's campaign and how the campaign is spending money.
The filings also include a campaign's fundraising total and the amount of money the candidate has on hand -- figures that can act as a bellwether for the viability of a political campaign.
The FEC issued a letter to the treasurer of James' campaign committee, warning that the failure to "timely file" the first-quarter report could lead to an audit or civil money penalties. The letter was dated Friday.
James, in an interview Tuesday, said her campaign could not afford a political consultant to file the fundraising report. James said she did not want to incorrectly file the FEC report by herself.
The last fundraising report her campaign filed with the FEC was also late. That report, which covered the months of October, November and December, showed her campaign had a cash-on-hand total of $7,385 at the end of 2021.
Both James and fellow Democratic candidate Dan Whitfield of Bella Vista are running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican John Boozman.
Like James, Whitfield has failed so far to put up fundraising figures that would allow for a financially competitive race, according to his first-quarter report, which was filed on time.
Whitfield's cash-on-hand total was $5,416 at the end of March, according to his campaign report.
The third Democrat in the U.S. Senate primary, Jack Foster of Pine Bluff, also did not file a report in time for the April 15 deadline.
Contacted Tuesday, Foster said he had no comment.
Comparatively, Boozman's campaign reported bringing in more than $1.1 million in the first quarter.
All Republican candidates in the primary race met the deadline for the first-quarter report.
If a candidate raised or spent more than $5,000 by March 31, they were then required to file a first-quarter report, according to an FEC spokesperson.
Another candidate for a federal office in Arkansas also missed the April 15 deadline, but it was not immediately clear whether he was required to file a report because of the fundraising threshold.
A first-quarter report for state Rep. Monte Hodges' campaign committee did not appear on the FEC website as of Tuesday morning. Hodges announced in January that he was running for Arkansas' 1st Congressional District, setting up a Democratic bid for a seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford.
Hodges, in a statement Tuesday, said he's still working on the first-quarter report and plans to file it in the future.
Earlier this year, the state lawmaker disclosed he was accused of child molestation about two decades ago.
The Democrat has said he was falsely accused and was never charged over the allegations.
Hodges, who was the subject of a Blytheville Police Department investigation in 2003, was accused of molesting a young boy, according to an investigative file obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Hodges was a friend of the child's family, according to the police file.
A prosecutor declined to charge Hodges.