Eight Days of Cash
Final full Lege campaign finance reports filed
By Richard Whittaker, 5:12PM, Wed. Oct. 27, 2010
If it's a week before an election, it must be time for the eight day out campaign finance reports. Barring last-minute contributions filed via special telegrams, this is pretty much where the war chests remain in the last week. Care to guess where the big cash went?
(Note: incumbents marked with *)
Senate District 14
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Kirk Watson* (D) | $106,110.95 | $100,543.39 | $1,645,116.58 | $0 |
| Mary Lou Serafine (R) | $8,061.40 | $13,963.45 | $2,797.75 | $0 |
| Kent Philips (L) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Yup, Watson is sitting on 800 times the warchest of Serafine.
Senate District 25
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Jeff Wentworth* (R) | $36,726.26 | $19,541.66 | $26,387.66 | $0 |
| Arthur Maxwell Thomas IV (L) | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Back in the Summer, Wentworth had emptied his campaign coffers, and everyone thought that he was going to take a job at Texas A&M. Seems that job fell through and the spending was a little premature. Fortunately for him, Thomas hasn't filed a campaign finance report since July.
House District 46
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Dawnna Dukes* | $9,875 | $4,744.95 | $33,548 | $0 |
| George Emery (L) | $370 | $150 | $62.59 | $0 |
Without a Republican challenger, and with Emery spending a grand total of $150 on a fundraiser, Dukes has been able to build up her warchest a little bit.
House District 47
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Valinda Bolton (D)* | $244,472.10 | $290,905.39 | $34,071.45 | $0 |
| Paul Workman (R) | $217.422.27 | $236,862.67 | $95,084.14 | $15,000 |
| Kris Bailey (L) | $0 | $50 | $0 | $0 |
With $50,000 each from the Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund and the Republican Party of Texas Victory State Account, plus $50,900 from Texans for Lawsuit Reform, there's little doubt that the GOP is doubling down on Workman as their best hope for a Travis County House win. Bolton got her own boost, with a total of $85,630.36 from Texans for Insurance Reform, the nemesis of torte reform mavens Texans for Lawsuit Reform. However, those donations came in before his cancer diagnosis, which is always a wild card in election thinking.
House District 48
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Donna Howard* (D) | $68,100.37 | $42,106.76 | $92,303.77 | $0 |
| Dan Neil (R) | $26,746.24 | $41,479.16 | $23,987.84 | $0 |
| Ben Easton (L) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Is Neil's campaign dead in the water? The major GOP PACs (including the GOPAC-TX, which he helped found) are nowhere to be seen, while Howard has actually increased her war chest by $14K since the 30 day reports.
House District 49
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Elliott Naishtat* (D) | $52,349 | $18,142.32 | $239,257.27 | $0 |
| Nathan Kleffman (L) | $50 | $40.25 | $256.55 | $0 |
With a warchest like that, and nothing to spend it on, Naishtat could run in HD-47 if he felt like it (wakka-wakka!)
House District 50
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Mark Strama* (D) | $107,449.84 | $149,612.66 | $108,818.25 | $45,000 |
| Patrick McGuinness (R) | $25,422.62 | $132,179.70 | $8,453.47 | $0 |
| Emily Cowan | $0 | $21.64 | $455.81 | $0 |
McGuinness' campaign functionally flatlined on fundraising, while Strama got a boost with $30,000 a piece from HEB owner and education advocate Charles Butt (who works with Strama on Raise Your Hands Texas) and Texans for Lawsuit Reform.
House District 51
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | Outstanding loans |
| Eddie Rodriguez* (D) | $13,356 | $$ 13,908.12 | $9,135.12 | $0 |
| Marilyn Jackson (R) | $8,267.25 | $2,420.49 | $2,267.43 | $0 |
| Arthurd DiBianca | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Safe to say that this remains a low-priority race for the big donors. Like Thomas in SD-25, DiBianca hasn't filed a report since the July semi-annuals.
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Texas Democratic Party, Republican Party of Texas, Libertarian Party of Texas, Campaign Finance, Paul Workman, Kris Bailey, George Emery, Elections, Valinda Bolton, Mark Strama, Donna Howard, Elliot Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez, Jeff Wentworth, Kirk Watson
