The September campaign finance reports are in, and incumbent Governor Kay Ivey, the Republican nominee, is lapping her opponents in fundraising.
According to the campaign finance reports filed by the Secretary of State’s office, the governor entered the month of September with $75,583.16 in her re-election account. During September, the governor raised another $316,011 in contributions. Ivey outspent everyone else in the race: combined with expenditures of $189,915.81 in September alone. Ivey enters the month with $201,678.35 in cash on hand.
Ivey is only the second woman to be elected as Governor of Alabama. She is the longest serving woman governor in state history as Gov. Lurleen Wallace died of breast cancer in office during her one and only term. Ivey was twice elected as State Treasurer and twice elected as Lieutenant Governor; before being elevated to governor in 2017 when then Gov. Robert Bentley resigned. Ivey was elected to her own term of office in 2018.
Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake is the Libertarian candidate for governor. Blake, as a challenger, enters the race with less name recognition than the incumbent governor. The way a campaign builds name recognition is through commercials: radio, TV, internet, print, direct mail, signs, and billboards, and all of that costs money in a state with over five million people and multiple media markets. The Libertarians did not even get ballot access until late May, so building a fundraising apparatus to challenge an incumbent Governor has been challenging.
The Blake campaign began in September with just $834. Over the course of the month, Blake raised $9,325, spent $5,389.90, and entered October with $4,769.10 in cash on hand.
The situation is even bleaker for the Democratic nominee for Governor. Yolanda Rochelle Flowers reported contributions for the month of just $2,150. The Democratic nominee only had $673.32 in funds coming into September. After spending just $2777.09, the Flowers campaign was left with only $46.23 entering October.
The last three Democratic nominees for governor Walt Maddox, Parker Griffith, and Ron Sparks, were running campaigns that were at distinct disadvantages to their Republican counterparts. Still, ideological liberals, Democratic Party loyalists, and allied special interests did at least fund their campaigns. Flowers can’t raise money, and Democrats appear to have thrown in the towel on this and every other statewide race. Democrats aren’t giving to Flowers, who already has a mountain to climb to establish name recognition, much less win votes on election day.
Flowers is the first Black woman to be nominated for Governor of Alabama by one of the two major political parties.
Ivey, Blake, and Flowers are the only three candidates that will appear on the ballot on November 8, but there are also at least two write-in candidates who do not have the advantages of a statewide political party working for their cause.
Write-in candidate Jared Budlong began the month of September with just $105.23 in his campaign account. Over the course of the month, he raised $918.40 in contributions for his campaign and borrowed another $370.07. Budlong spent $659.72 on the campaign and entered October with $733.98 in cash on hand.
Lee county pastor and former Republican primary candidate Dean Odle is running as a write-in candidate.
Odle entered the month of September with $12,081.61 in cash on hand. Odle reported cash contributions of $5,735.02, in-kind contributions of $666.40, expenditures of $11,550.16, and an ending cash balance of $6,266.47.
To vote for Budlong or Odle, voters must check the write-in candidate as their choice for governor and then write in their name on the paper ballot.
Republican candidates have dominated fundraising in this election cycle. Republican candidates have raised $46,753,741.68. Political Action Committees have raised $19,798,304.29 in contributions. The Democratic candidates have contributions of $7,282,846.27 combined. All other candidates, including the 65 Libertarian candidates on the ballot, have only raised $178,572.12 combined in this cycle. By comparison, Ivey by herself raised $316,011 just in the month of September. Ivey has raised $9,898,554.35 in this election – more than every Democrat, Libertarian, and independent candidate combined.
The election will be on November 8. If, for some reason you are unable to vote on November 8, you can apply for and obtain an absentee ballot.
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