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
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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.
This article appears in October 22 • 2010.
