Congressional candidate Kevin Boyd had a news conference Monday to point out how little money his campaign has for the Nov. 6 election.

The Democratic challenger to Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, had raised only $22,400 in contributions through June, according to the second-quarter campaign finance report Boyd released at IBEW Local 305 on Chambeau Road.

Boyd also distributed copies of Stutzman’s report. It shows the first-term GOP incumbent had collected more than $659,000 in campaign donations.

“Underdogs winning is not an anomaly -- it happens all the time in America,” Boyd said, naming the 1969 World Series champion New York Mets, the U.S. hockey team that won the 1980 Winter Olympics and Harry Truman’s victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential election.

Boyd, a local Presbyterian pastor who defeated five other candidates in the May 8 Democratic Party primary election, also mentioned David’s upset of Goliath in the Bible.

He said his campaign depends on volunteers and hard work at the grass-roots level. Joined at the union hall by about 30 supporters, Boyd said he has visited “every 3rd District county repeatedly, walking in parades, knocking on doors, making calls, shaking hands and, most importantly, listening to people.”

The campaign finance reports reveal that Boyd has less than $7,600 in available cash, compared with $274,000 for Stutzman.

“Money is not everything in campaigns,” Stutzman said in an interview Monday. “That’s why I feel very comfortable. We’ve got a good, strong ground game as well as the ability to be up on TV and radio and to get our message out through the airwaves as well.”

Stutzman recalled that his predecessor, former Republican Rep. Mark Souder of Fort Wayne, wrote about retail politics: “Being in a parade may not win you the campaign, but if you’re not at the parade, you may lose the campaign.”

Voters “see if you’re working at it or not,” Stutzman said after he spoke at Raytheon Systems Co., which announced that employees had donated $5,100 to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Medical Center in Fort Wayne. Stutzman is a member of the House VA Committee.

The LaGrange County farmer did acknowledge the financial gap between him and Boyd when he said his own fundraising has made it possible for him to help other Republican candidates if they need it.

According to the finance reports, Stutzman has raised nearly $345,000 in contributions from people, $312,000 from political action committees and $2,400 from himself, while Boyd has received about $13,400 from people, $6,000 from political party committees and $3,000 from PACs.

Boyd’s campaign platform includes protecting Social Security and Medicare, bolstering public education and battling poverty. Stutzman has been a staunch fiscal and social conservative on Capitol Hill, although he has fought against a proposal to reassign aircraft and cut jobs at Fort Wayne’s Air National Guard base.