Garcia posts best fundraising report yet, still lags behind Ducey

Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Garcia brought in $779,000 during the last campaign finance reporting period, by far the strongest showing yet by a campaign that has been plagued by poor fundraising since its beginning.

But Garcia still trailed Gov. Doug Ducey for the reporting period, which ran from Aug. 12 to Sept. 30. Ducey reported raising nearly $920,000, bringing his total for the election cycle up more than $5.6 million. Through the end of the reporting period, Garcia had raised about $1.8 million. In a press statement on Tuesday, Garcia’s campaign said he’s raised a total of about $2 million for this election, including money raised since the end of the last reporting period.

Though he has a handful of contributions of several hundred dollars, and a few of $1,000 or more, the overwhelming majority of Garcia’s contributions were less than $100. According to the campaign, 39,063 people have contributed an average of about $52 since his last campaign finance report, and 93 percent of those contributions were under $100.

The majority of Ducey’s money during the last reporting period was raised through the Ducey Victory Fund Committee, a joint fundraising venture by the governor and the Arizona Republican Party. The committee reported transferring $675,000 to Ducey’s campaign in the last period. Ducey’s campaign finance report lists those contributions individually, even though the contributors never wrote a check to Ducey’s campaign.

In the race for secretary of state, Republican Steve Gaynor continued self-funding his campaign, putting another $400,000 of his own money into the race. He’d previously provided $1.5 million in self-funding, which, until the most recent reporting period, made up nearly every dollar Gaynor had raised. Gaynor also raised nearly $100,000 from individual contributors, which was effectively his first foray into outside fundraising.

Democratic secretary of state nominee Katie Hobbs raised about $215,000 last period, brining her fundraising total up to $782,000. But she is also getting a lot of help from the Arizona Democratic Party, which has reserved at least $1.8 million in airtime for pro-Hobbs ads.

In the race for attorney general, incumbent Mark Brnovich was outraised by his Democratic opponent, January Contreras. Brnovich raised more than $161,000 in the reporting period, while Contreras hauled in almost $193,000. Contreras also enters the homestretch of the election with more cash on hand than Brnovich, $421,000 to $292,000.

Contreras received more than $187,000 from individuals and $4,600 from PACs (the bulk of which came from a sheet metal workers union and a pro-choice women’s group). Brnovich collected more than $30,000 in PAC money. His largest PAC contributions were $5,100 from At Our Best PAC (a collection of wealthy businessmen and corporations) and $5,000 from the Comcast/NBC Universal PAC.

He also accepted PAC money from:

• Pinnacle West, the parent company of APS, the state’s largest utility
• Mining giant Freeport-McMoRan
• The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce
• AZ ACRE PAC, which advocates for electrical co-operatives
• Verizon
• Sprint
• The Arizona Rock Products Association
• The Beer and Wine Distributors of Arizona
• Tenet Healthcare
• Safelite
• Microsoft

In the race for superintendent of public instruction, Republican Frank Riggs raised a paltry $27,000 during the reporting period. Riggs largely self-funded his campaign during the primary election, and about $1,500 of what he raised this period came from Riggs’ own pocket, in the form of purchasing goods for his campaign. However, he did not loan his campaign any money.

His opponent, Democrat Kathy Hoffman, is publicly funded and received nearly $163,000 from the Arizona Clean Elections program. She had almost $89,000 remaining at the end of September, compared to Riggs’ $17,000.

In the contest for the two contested Corporation Commission seats, Republican nominee  Rodney Glassman continues to raise massive sums of money. Glassman, a former Democrat who last decade ran against the late U.S. Sen. John McCain and unsuccessfully sought to lead the Arizona Democratic Party, raised $215,000, including a $100,000 loan he made to his campaign. His contributions include $10,000 from the United Food and Commercial Workers union PAC.

Glassman’s running mate, Corporation Commissioner Justin Olson, raised a paltry $9,750 during the reporting period.

The two Democratic candidates, Sandra Kennedy and Kiana Sears, are running with public campaign funds.

Kimberly Yee, the Republican candidate for state treasurer, raised about $38,000, but also repaid $125,000 in loans that she gave her campaign in late 2017. Her Democratic opponent, Mark Manoil, is publicly funded.