The state representative from Mandeville wants everybody to know it, too. A press release…

Leading all opponents, John Schroder reported $609,621 cash on hand in his first quarter fundraising report for the Louisiana State Treasurer race.

Since his announcement in December, Schroder has raised $407,219 in his bid to be the next Louisiana State Treasurer, raising $184,745 in the first quarter alone.

“We’re traveling to every corner of this state to share our position of fiscal responsibility and continuing Senator Kennedy’s legacy of standing up for the Louisiana taxpayers. People are responding to our message, our momentum is growing, and no one is going to outwork us, ” Schroder said.

The fundraising report shows homegrown support and momentum for Schroder with 97 percent of donors residing in Louisiana.

Schroder didn’t actually raise the largest amount of cash in the first quarter. That honor belongs to Angele Davis, the former Commissioner of Administration in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s first term. Davis, who is married to 19th Judicial District Court judge Tim Kelley, raised $264,000 in the first three months of the year and has $234,000 in the bank as of her finance report. She’s been hitting the attorney circuit with a good deal of success, as one might expect given those contacts.

State Rep. Julie Stokes (R-Kenner) is also competitive, with $534,000 in the bank. Of that number, though, some $280,000 is from loans she’s given to her campaign (Schroder’s cash-in-hand total is buttressed by $150,000 in loans). Stokes raised $128,000 in the first quarter.

State Sen. Neil Riser (R-Columbia) is actually in fourth place with only $156,000 in the bank. Riser did have a competitive fundraising quarter, with $170,000 in money raised in the first three months of the year.

What’s interesting so far is that there are no Democrat candidates yet, and it doesn’t quite appear any are on the horizon. With four Republicans already in the race a Democrat would be overwhelmingly likely to make the runoff, and that prospect really ought to generate interest from someone. After all, there are Democrat political consultants in Louisiana even if there aren’t too many Democrat politicians capable of winning statewide races, and those consultants would assuredly like to get paid to do some work this year.

On the other hand, a Democrat is going to win the mayor’s race in New Orleans this fall and a goodly amount of coin will be raised and spent among a host of candidates there. And there is a mayor’s race in Lake Charles this fall which looks to be a competitive intraparty contest. Perhaps those races are where the Democrats are focused rather than the special election to replace John Kennedy as state treasurer.