He collected at least $764,000 in itemized donations from out-of-state donors, including $146,000 from Texas and $141,000 from New York, his two biggest-contributing states after Massachusetts.
The percentage of in-state money raised by Brown, “is high, particularly for an incumbent,’’ said Colby College professor Anthony Corrado, who studies campaign finance. Incumbents, in general, tend to more easily attract money from national sources due to their high profile and access to national networks based in Washington.
“This shows he has been able to develop a very strong fund-raising base in Massachusetts,’’ Corrado said.
Brown’s probable Democratic opponent in November, Harvard Law School professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, has outraised Brown since she entered the Senate race last summer.
Warren’s campaign brought in $5.7 million in the last three months of 2011. More detailed data on her contributions, including the amounts raised from in-state donors, is not yet available from the Federal Election Commission.
Brown still leads Warren in overall cash-on-hand, with about $12.9 million in his campaign account, according FEC filings. Warren has about $6.1 million on hand.
Boston has been a rich source of campaign cash for Brown, providing $215,000 in itemized contributions last quarter.
He raised nearly $86,000 from New York City sources and drew substantial support from the affluent suburbs of Wellesley, Newton, and Weston. The senator’s fund-raising improved as 2011 drew to a close. He raised $1.58 million from July to September of last year.
The money Brown received from political action committees also substantially increased at the end of 2011: PACs gave Brown $352,000 in the fourth quarter, making up about 11 percent of his total donations.
PACs supporting Brown are linked to some of the best-known corporations in the US, including Cisco Systems, Boeing Co., Microsoft Corp., and Raytheon.
He also drew support from a number of PACs controlled by financial firms, among them Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as PACs representing the pharmaceutical and energy industries.
