Sunday, October 2, 2011

City Hall Brawl: Democrats Have Huge Financial Advantage Over Republicans in Tucson Mayor & Council Races

Posted By on Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 11:35 PM

With just over five weeks to go before the Nov. 8 election, the Democrats in this year’s Tucson City Council races continue to hold a huge fundraising advantage over their GOP opponents, according to campaign finance reports filed late last week.

In the mayoral race, Democrat Jonathan Rothschild has raised 12 times as much money as Republican Rick Grinnell.

Rothschild raised more than twice as many dollars between August 18 and September 19 of this year—$42,411—than has raised for his entire campaign.

Grinnell, who got into the race late as a write-in candidate for the August primary election after the original GOP mayoral candidate were kicked off the ballot—has raised just $20,365. That includes $4,590 he raised between Sept. 7 and Sept. 19, which was the end of the most recent filing period.

Grinnell had spent $14,480 and had just $5,885 in bank.

Rothschild, who has been assembling his campaign for more than a year, had raised a total of $257,033 for his campaign of Sept. 19, which is more private dollars than any mayoral candidate in Tucson’s history. He had spent $112,569 and still had nearly $144,463 left in the bank.

Green Party candidate Mary DeCamp reported raising $3,445 and had $1,80 in the bank.

The City Council races are also lopsided.

Over in Ward 4, Democratic Councilwoman Shirley Scott has a nearly 3-to-1 advantage over GOP challenger Tyler Vogt.

Scott had raised $90,585, including $40,235 in public matching funds. She still had $54,199 on hand as of the end of the reporting period.

Vogt had raised $18,389 in private contributions and received $13,134 in matching funds. He had spent $14,115 as of the end of the reporting period.

In Ward 2, Democratic Councilman Paul Cunningham has raised nearly four times as much as Republican opponent Jennifer Rawson.

Cunningham reported raising $61,887, including $25,431 in matching funds. He had spent $32,902, leaving him with $28,984 in bank at the end of the reporting period.

Rawson had raised $16,824 and spent $8,515, leaving her with $8,308. She has applied for matching funds and is awaiting the conclusion of an audit before she can receive those dollars.

Council candidates who participate in the matching-funds program agree to limit their spending to $108,615.

You can view campaign-finance reports here.

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