Allen West made history when Florida voters sent him to Congress last year, becoming one of only two black Republicans from the South to serve in the House since Reconstruction.
But if he wants to be something other than a historical footnote, he may have to match or exceed the more than $6.2 million he raised last year, when he defeated Ron Klein, the Democratic incumbent.
It is a tall order, and so far he is off to a slow start.
Figures released by the Federal Election Commission last week showed that Mr. West raised more than $433,000 in the first quarter of the year, ranking third among all freshman Republicans. And he has already spent much of that, mostly on direct-mail fund-raising and other expenses. During the same reporting period in the 2010 campaign, Mr. West raised just over $839,000.
Two Democrats challenging Mr. West for the 2012 election, Patrick Murphy, a businessman, and Lois J. Frankel, a former mayor of West Palm Beach, did fairly well in the first quarter of 2011, raising $352,000 and $250,000 respectively.
Mr. West is one of more than two dozen Republican freshmen facing tough re-election battles in Congressional districts that lean Democratic or were won by President Obama in 2008. Others include Michael G. Grimm and Nan Hayworth of New York, Robert Hurt of Virginia, Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania, David Schweikert of Arizona and Steve Stivers of Ohio.
Mr. Grimm, Ms. Hayworth and Mr. Meehan all raised less in this reporting period than they did a year ago.
Over all, the average amount raised in the first quarter by the freshman class was $175,000 — compared with nearly $300,000 that Democratic freshmen raised in the same period in 2009 and nearly $250,000 in 2007.
Despite the numbers, Republican officials said they were not worried.
“The priority this quarter has been to cut reckless government spending and set up their new offices and constituents’ operation,” said Joanna Burgos, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “Nevertheless, Republican freshmen did an exceptional job garnering overwhelming support that will help them build strong campaigns that will put them on the path to victory.”
Democratic Party officials, not surprisingly, take heart in the reports for the quarter.
“Their weak fund-raising is our strength,” said Representative Steve Israel of New York, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “The first-quarter totals are a critical benchmark.”
Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter that tracks Congressional races, said the freshman Republican fund-raising numbers were intriguing, but cautioned against reading too much into them at this point.
“It’s interesting if it holds up,” Mr. Cook said. “But I wouldn’t get too worked up about it until the second or third quarter. If the trend holds, then I think you have to starting looking at it seriously.”
The highest total for the quarter by a freshman Republican was nearly $1 million reported by Diane Black of Tennessee, who won the seat vacated by Bart Gordon, a Democrat who had represented the district since 1985. However, the bulk of that was a $667,000 loan Ms. Black made to her campaign, with about $235,000 contributed by individuals and political action committees. She has spent more than $700,000 so far, a large part of it on fund-raising.
David B. McKinley of West Virginia brought in the most in total contributions of all the freshman Republicans: $539,000. Though the seat he won had been held by a Democrat since 1969, political analysts said Mr. McKinley would probably face little Democratic opposition, given the conservative nature of his district.
Other freshman lawmakers from districts considered less competitive raised less money in the first quarter, including Rob Woodall of Georgia, who reported $8,725, and Larry Bucshon of Indiana, who brought in $45,330. Neither was expected to have serious Democratic challengers.
Most of the money for freshman Republicans came from people, not PACs, which the party says reflects the enthusiasm of its core supporters. But despite the anti-Washington wave many freshman rode to electoral victory, as a group they still raised more than $5 million from political action committees, businesses and trade groups that included corporate political action committees and lobbyists.
Leading the pack were Mr. Stivers of Ohio, whose contributors included Goldman Sachs and the lobbying firm Holland & Knight; Ms. Black got money from Goldman, Bank of America and the lobbying firm Akin Gump.
Democratic opposition is not the only thing some Republican freshmen have to worry about. Congressional redistricting in several states could reduce the number of districts and leave some new lawmakers facing one another in primary races.
In Louisiana, the state eliminated a district because of a decline in population after Hurricane Katrina struck nearly six years ago. This has put Representative Jeff Landry into the district now represented by another Republican, Charles Boustany Jr., who was first elected in 2004.
Mr. Boustany holds a significant fund-raising advantage, with $561,000 cash on hand for the reporting period, compared with $171,000 for Mr. Landry, who has declined to say whether he will seek re-election.
In Illinois, Republicans won four Congressional seats from Democrats in November. But at least one of those seats will be eliminated in redistricting, a move that is likely to affect one of the four freshmen — Robert Dold, Adam Kinzinger, Bobby Schilling and Joe Walsh. Among them, Mr. Schilling reported raising the least in the quarter, just under $80,000. The other three each raised at least $270,000.
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