State of the House money race -- part 2

Part one is here.

Now that all of the OCPF reports are in, we can get a much better idea of where the Central Mass. races for state house and senate stand and what we can expect between now and election day. Here is the second of two breakdowns of the state house races.

For each contested seat, I’ve listed how much cash was raised in the last two months, how much cash on hand was reported in the pre-election report, and what changes, if any, have been reported since then. Also note that the latest reports include primary donations and spending from August 20 to September 6, so those candidates who had primary opponents may have spent or raised more in this period than unopposed candidates. Incumbents are in italics.

Sixth Worcester

Candidate	Raised 8/19-10/19	Cash on hand 10/19	Late Contributions	Total Available
Kathleen Walker (D-Charlton)	$10,487	$11,633	$0	$11,633
Peter Durant (R-Spencer)	$4,211	$16,417	$0	$16,417

Walker has taken in over $3,000 in PAC money in the last two months, one of the highest amounts for a non-incumbent in Central Mass. Interestingly, her campaign gave $3,000 to the State Democratic Committee, where most other campaigns have been taking donations from the state parties. Durant’s fundraising was very weak compared to other incumbents. He is also one of the few Central Mass. pols to pay for polling: he spent $2,300 on a Virginia polling firm last month.

Eighth Worcester

Candidate	Raised 8/19-10/19	Cash on hand 10/19	Late Contributions	Total Available
Robert DuBois (D-Blackstone)	$18,245	$9,115	$2,500	$11,615
Kevin Kuros (R-Uxbridge)	$9,813	$4,816	$1,500	$6,316

While DuBois appeared to have a great fundraising period, $12,100 of the $20,745 he has brought in since August 20 have been personal loans to his campaign. Another $3,400 have come from PACs, which appears to be the highest PAC contribution to a non-incumbent in Central Mass. He has spent nearly $4,000 on newspaper ads, bucking the trend of many other campaigns. In addition to his fundraising, Kuros has benefitted from almost $1,400 of inkind services from the Marlborough Republican Town Committee, which routinely funnels money from big-money GOP donors to local legislative candidates. Like Peter Durant in the Fifth Worcester race, Kuros has also spent $2,300 on polling. He also paid an Iowa firm $140 for “robocalls.” (Kudos to Kuros for actually listing them as robocalls on his campaign report.)

Fourteenth Worcester

Candidate	Raised 8/19-10/19	Cash on hand 10/19	Late Contributions	Total Available
Jim O’Day (D-West Boylston)	$19,300	$24,589	$0	$24,589
William McCarthy (R-Worcester)	$10,529	$3,489	$1,000	$4,489
Winthrop Handy (U-West Boylston)	$525	$53	$0	$53

O’Day’s campaign is more high-powered than most in the region. He’s paid his campaign manager $6,000 in the last two months. He paid another campaign staffer $1,500. He’s spent $4,000 on polling the district. He paid a professional fundraiser $1,000. Despite being a popular incumbent, he’s leaving nothing to chance. Impressively, all but $1,325 of his $19,300 raised since August have been from individual donors. Of McCarthy’s intake, $6,500 of it are personal loans to the campaign. He may be the only candidate in the region to purchase billboard space, spending $1,574 with Clear Channel to have his name in lights. All of Winthrop Handy’s contributions are from his personal funds.

Fifteenth Worcester

Candidate	Raised 8/19-10/19	Cash on hand 10/19	Late Contributions	Total Available
Mary Keefe (D-Worcester)	$9,203	$15,740	$0	$15,740
Brian O’Malley (R-Worcester)	$961	$507	$0	$507

Keefe’s heavy lifting ended when the primary was over in this heavily Democratic. While she has continued to raise money, she has only spent around $800 since September 6, and $50 of that was a donation to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. O’Malley spent $100 on robocalls and $400 on yard signs, and that’s about it.

Seventeenth Worcester

Candidate	Raised 8/19-10/19	Cash on hand 10/19	Late Contributions	Total Available
John Binienda (D-Worcester)	$3,005	$380,247	$0	$380,247
William LeBeau (R-Leicester)	$855	$374	$0	$374

When you’ve got over $400K in the bank for a district with about 45,000 residents, two things are clear: you don’t need to raise money, and you can spend as much as you want or need. In just two months, Binienda has spent $6,000 on mailers, $7,500 on radio ads, over $8,000 on newspaper ads, and a whopping $18,000 on a campaign consultant named Richard Wright. Bill LeBeau has done in either arena.

Eighteenth Worcester

Candidate	Raised 8/19-10/19	Cash on hand 10/19	Late Contributions	Total Available
Donald Bourque (D-Webster)	$774	$4,422	$0	$4,422
Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton)	$18,127	$64,775	$0	$64,775

Being in a populous town in a newly drawn district against a freshman incumbent should be a recipe for success. But Bourque has seen his fundraising completely dry up since August. He’s got a little money left for the stretch run, but he hasn’t received any help since August from the state committee or from PACs, which suggests that Boston doesn’t think he’s a credible threat to Fattman. The aforementioned incumbent is a prolific fundraiser. Not only did he bring in $18,127 in contributions, but he uses the Sutton Republican Town Committee as an extension of his own, taking in $6,762 in in-kind contributions from the group. The Sutton committee’s only income was a $3,000 contribution from...the Committee to Elect Ryan Fattman.