U.S. Senate candidate Neal Simon outraised incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin two-to-one in the first quarter of 2018, but the Potomac businessman who is running as an independent has a long way to go to catch up to Cardin’s $2.68 million campaign war chest. Simon said the race will cost millions.

Simon raised $628,000 from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2018 compared to Cardin’s $336,000 over the same period, according to federal campaign finance reports. About a third of Simon’s campaign contributions came from a $250,000 personal loan, while nearly 50% of Cardin’s contributions came from political action committees.

Although he never actually filed for the seat, Charles Faddis was the top fundraiser among 11 Republicans running in the race and brought in $188,000. Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence soldier convicted of leaking thousands of sensitive military documents to WikiLeaks, raised $72,000.

Todd Eberly, associate professor of political science and public policy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, said while he thinks there is an appetite for independent candidates throughout the country, he believes Cardin’s seat is safe.

“It would be good for our politics to see more Independent candidates win and perhaps break the gridlock, but the two parties are just so entrenched that it’s all but impossible for an independent candidate to overcome the advantages shared by the major parties,” Eberly said.

Unite America, a national movement organizing to elect independent candidates at both the federal and state level, has endorsed Simon and plans to provide financial backing in the race. Simon also said he plans to put more of his own money into the race.

“We anticipate the campaign will cost millions of dollars,” Simon said. “We think our first quarter results show the momentum the campaign has gained.”

In 2012, independent candidate Rob Sobhani raised $8 million in the Maryland Senate race, only to garner 16% of the vote. However, Republican Dan Bongino, who raised only $1.8 million, won 26% of the vote. Two years later Bongino almost ousted first-term Democrat John Delaney in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District.

Despite their high disapproval rating in Congress, Eberly predicts 2018 will be a better year for Democrats because of a backlash to President Donald Trump.

Simon, who is currently on a listening tour in Anne Arundel County, said he will visit all 23 counties in Maryland, as well as Baltimore City, by mid-May. Currently, he has approximately 1,000 of the 10,000 petition signatures needed by Aug. 6 to qualify as an unaffiliated candidate in the November general election.