Behind the scenes of State Senate fundraising numbers for open seats
Numbers don’t lie. Well… sometimes when it comes to campaigns they do. When you’re just given a “cash on hand” total that figure can be deceiving. Any expert worth their salt will tell you that the devil is in the details. So below is a breakdown of some of the races for Alabama’s open Senate seats. With nine of the 26 Senate Republicans not running for re-election, either to retire or seek higher office, there’s a lot at play and a lot at stake this election. In addition to those nine, one lone Democrat, Sen. Hank Sanders has also announced his retirement and his daughter, Malika Sanders-Fortier, will run in his place. Since January’s campaign finance reports were recently filed, here’s a deeper look at “open” Senate seats up for grabs this year — who’s running, what their spending money on, how much they’re paying consultants, and how much cash they have on hand as they went into February. Here’s who’s running for the “open seats:” (candidates listed in order of total cash on hand): Senate District 2 Incumbent Bill Holtzclaw retiring Tom Butler (R): $44,640.09 Largest campaign expenditure to date: $3,700.00 to the Driscoll Group Amy Wasyluka (D): $7,081.60 Largest campaign expenditure to date: $493.77 to Allied Digital Printing Steve Smith (R): $1,085.56 PAYPAL 2145 HAMILTON Largest campaign expenditure to date: $29.30 to Paypal Michael Smith (D): $1,074.86 Self-loaned campaign $2,000 on Jan. 25, 2018 Senate District 7 Incumbent Paul Sanford retiring Mary Scott Hunter (R): $227,045 Donated $190,457.66 on Oct. 3, 2017 from Mary Scott Hunter Lt. Gov Committee Consultant cost to date: $32,578.09 total —> $6,000.55 (Beshears Solutions); $13,887 (Leverage Public Strategies); $2,050 (Vickie Gesellschap); $8,669.54 (Alexander Cooksey); $971 (Todd Powers); $1,000 (Vulpes Et Leo) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $3,700.00 to Advictory Johnathan Hard (D): $4,367.15 Consultant cost to date: $650 (Red Brick Strategies) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $404.39 to Tennessee Valley Sign Sam Givhan (R): $127,892 Consultant cost to date: $12,810 total —> $9,000 (Red State Strategies); $3,810 (Politically Correct Consulting) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $1,000 to MCREC Deborah Barros (D): $0 Senate District 10 Incumbent Phil Williams retiring (Assumed office in 2010) Mack Butler (R): $140,757 Self-loaned campaign $100,000 on Aug. 28, 2017 Donated $638.10 on Aug. 28, 2017 from Committee to Elect Mack Butler Consultant cost to date: $44,692.90 (Master Image Inc.) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $3269.70 to C&D Catering Andrew Jones (R): $3,472.56 Self-loaned campaign: $6,000 total —> $50 on Oct. 31, 2017; $950 on Dec. 20, 2017; $5,000 on Jan. 1, 2018 Largest campaign expenditure to date: $829.64 to Vistaprint Craig Ford (I): $0 Senate District 13 Incumbent Gerald Dial running for Ag Commissioner (Assumed office in 2010) Randy Price (R): $64,041 Self-loaned campaign $334.72 on Sept. 30, 2017 Consultant cost to date: $4,789.40 (Politically Correct Consulting) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $5,000 to Sinclair Broadcasting Mike Sparks (R): $18,840 Self-loaned campaign: $2,288.25 total —> $1004.25; $245.00; $1039.00 Tim Sprayberry (R): $5,110.81 Self-loaned campaign: $2,986.28 total —> $634.05 on Sept. 29, 2017; $1028.39 on Oct. 31, 2017; $642.94 on Nov. 30, 2017; $680.90 on Dec. 29, 2017 Largest campaign expenditure to date: $120 to Bama Carry/Chambers County Darrell Turner (D): $0 Senate District 15 Incumbent Slade Blackwell retiring (Assumed office in 2010) Miranda Carter (R): $0 Laura Casey (D):0 Dan Roberts (R): $0 Senate District 25 Incumbent Dick Brewbaker retiring (Assumed office in 2010) Charles “Will” Barfoot (R): $73,561.59 Self-loaned campaign: $50,000 on June 30, 2017 Consultant cost to date: $18,302 (Virtus Solutions) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $3,289.00 at Boosters Incorporated Ronda Walker (R): $37,543.88 Donated $7,156.54 on June 30, 2017 from Ronda Walker for County Commissioner fund Gave self loan of $10,000 on June 30, 2017 Consultant cost to date: $7,340.02 total —> $2,974.27 (Newman and Associates); $1,865.75 (Alexander Cooksey); $2,500.00 (Leverage Public Strategies) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $1,422.47 at Simply Mac David A. Sadler (D): $0 Frank Snowden (D): $0 Senate District 32 Incumbent Trip Pittman retiring (Assumed office in 2007) David Northcutt (R): $215,089.91 Self-loaned campaign: $73,000 total —> $19,000 on May 16, 2017; $3,000 on June 7, 2017; $50,000 on June 30, 2017; $1,000 on Nov. 22, 2017 Consultant cost to date: $6,425.24 (Red State Strategies) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $1,969.28 to Postmark Inc. Bill Roberts (R): $68,411.41 Self-loaned campaign $50,000 on July 31, 2017 Donated $28,298.32 on June 17, 2017 from the Bill Roberts Representative Campaign Largest campaign expenditure to date: $2,834.00 to Action Printing Chris Elliott (R): $44,662.63 Consultant cost to date: $20,043.63 total —> $8,640 (Catalyst and Associates); $11,403.63(Strategy Inc.) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $501.22 to Boost Promotional Branding Jeff Boyd (R): $38,315.39 Self-loaned campaign: $1,333.64 total —> $631.52 on June 15, 2017; $702.12 on June 26, 2017 Largest contributor Russell Robinson: $25,000 Largest campaign expenditure to date: $3,034.82 to Sign Man Senate District 34 Incumbent Rusty Glover running for Lt. Governor (Assumed office in 2006) Jack Williams (R): $190,942.26 Self-loaned campaign $100,000 on July 6, 2017 Consultant cost to date: $1,760.00 (Interstate Solutions) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $5,793.85 to Interstate Printing and Graphics Inc. (owned by Interstate Solutions) Currently serves as Alabama State Representative for District 102 Mark Shirey (R): $8,773.44 Self-loaned campaign $500 on Nov. 21, 2017 Consultant cost to date: $6,230.30 (Red State Strategies) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $4,683.40 to ABC Signs and Shirts Senate District 35 Incumbent Bill Hightower running for Governor (Assumed office in 2013) David Sessions (R): $133,124.09 Donated $32,011.07 on Oct. 2, 2017 from the David Sessions State Representative Committee Consultant cost to date: $11,212.84 (Strategy Inc.) Largest campaign expenditure to date: $49 to USPS Currently serves as Alabama State Representative for District 105 Tom Holmes (D): $4,897.26 Largest campaign expenditure to date: $1,205.60 at Griffice Printing Company *Largest campaign expenditure to date excludes candidate qualifying fees
