More Observations on 8-day-out Reports

Eight-day-out campaign finance reports were due yesterday for state and legislative candidates (and some local candidates) with general election opponents. The reports cover contributions received and expenditures made between September 29 and October 29. From this point to the election, any additional contributions must be reported on a daily basis.

We reported earlier on key House races. Here we note other reports that caught our attention.

RRC open: Former Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center) raised $91K and spent $131K for the period. His Democratic challenger, perennial candidate Grady Yarbrough, raised and spent nothing, but Libertarian Mark Miller raised $26K and spent $73K. For the 2015-16 cycle, Miller has raised a total of $125K, more than any other statewide challenger or open-seat candidate on the general election ballot.

SC5: Incumbent Justice Paul Green narrowly out-raised Judge Dori Contreras Garza by less than $1K but maintains a $44K advantage in cash on hand. Garza accounted for 93% of all contributions received by the six Democratic statewide judicial candidates and has 89% of all their cash on hand.

Senate: Despite having largely token or minor party opposition, incumbent senators and open seat candidate Dawn Buckingham raised a combined $1.2M in the last month. Their opponents combined raised $16K.

HD27: As far as we can tell, no campaign finance reports have been filed by Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) and opponent Ken Bryant since February and May, respectively. None since then are available online.

HD40: Rep. Terry Canales (D-Premont) raised nearly $29K and has $20K on hand. His opponent, Mari De Leon raised less than $1K and has about $400 on hand.

HD46: Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) has added another to her loan balance after reporting no contributions or expenditures and less than $1K on hand. Her overall loan principal is $35K – $25K for Dawnna Dukes Campaign SPAC and $10K for her COH account. For the SPAC, the loan principal was increased from just over $12K as of September 29. A $10K loan was provided by Dukes to her COH account on September 5, covering $10K in legal expenses paid on that day and two weeks later. The last campaign contribution she reported receiving was May 13. Dukes has not reported any loan balance since July 2000. Dukes has announced she will resign in January, triggering a special election.

Republican challenger Gabe Nila reported $1.5K in contributions, just over $2K in expenditures and has less than $500 on hand. Neither minor party candidate has reported receiving any contributions.

HD54 open: Scott Cosper out-raised challenger Sandra Blankenship, $88K to $2K, and has a $44K to $2K advantage in cash on hand.

HD78: Republican Jeff Lane, the challenger to Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso), reported a pair of $50 contributions. Moody raised $25K and spent $28K for the period. For the 2015-16 cycle, Lane has raised less than $1K.

HD92: Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford) raised $300K for the period, 99% of which was raised in a single day. Nearly 100 individual donations averaging $137 came from district zip codes, representing 4% of the total contributions. Stickland’s largest contributors for the period were Midland oil executive Tim Dunn ($75K), Midland oil executive Kyle Stallings ($50K), MJB Operating LP ($25K), Houston consultant Mayes Middleton ($22.5K), Cisco hydraulic fracturing company owners Farris and JoAnn Wilks ($20K), Odessa engineering company executives Bubba and Dick Saulsbury ($20K), other Dunn family members ($12K) and Austin software developer Joel Hock ($10K). Many of these individuals and MJB Operating LP, which is owned by Dallas hotelier Monty Bennett, are major contributors to Empower Texans PAC and other groups opposed to Speaker Joe Straus. Stickland’s opponent, Haltom City Democratic Party activist Kim Leach, raised less than $500.

HD99: Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) raised $182K and has $439K on hand. For the 2015-16 election cycle, Geren has raised nearly $1.6M, about two thirds of which was raised during his primary race against Bo French. Geren’s Libertarian opponent has reported no contributions this cycle, though his last report was filed in July.

HD114: Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) raised $223K for the period. His largest contributors for the period were Associated Republicans of Texas ($49.5K), Texas Republican Representatives Campaign Committee ($34.5K), Texas Assoc. of Realtors TREPAC ($23K), Republican Party of Texas ($12K) and Texas Medical Assoc. TEXPAC ($10K). His opponent, Jim Burke, raised just over $1K.

HD115: Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving) narrowly out-raised Dorotha Ocker, $13K to $8K, but he has a $65K to $2K advantage in cash on hand. Rinaldi’s contribution total is the fourth lowest of a House incumbent facing a major party challenger for the period.

HD120: Challenger Barbara Gervin-Hawkins raised $17K and has $20K on hand. Rep. Laura Thompson (I-San Antonio) raised $1K from five individual donors and has less than $1K on hand.

HD128 open: For the second straight reporting period, Briscoe Cain has reported exactly half of his contributions and expenditures as unitemized, likely a reporting error.

HD137: Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) out-raised Kendall Baker, $13K to $3K, and outspent him, $30K to $5K, for the period. Wu has a $75K advantage in cash on hand.

HD147: Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) raised $145K and has $342K on hand. His Republican opponent, Matt Murphy, was out-raised by his Green opponent, Brian Harrison, $100 to $0, and the two combined have just over $1K on hand.

HD150 open: Republican Valoree Swanson out-raised Democrat Michael Shawn Kelly, $18K to $2K, but Kelly outspent Swanson, $37K to $11K. Swanson has a $38K cash on hand advantage, but Kelly has a loan principal balance about $17K above his expenditures thus far.

ED5: Challenger Rebecca Bell-Metereau out-raised incumbent Ken Mercer (R-San Antonio), $18K to $4K, and outspent him, $27K to $4K, for the period. She has an insignificant $6K to $4K lead in cash on hand. For the 2015-16 election cycle, she has out-raised the incumbent, $88K to $16K. It is her third race against Mercer. She received 36% of the vote in 2010 and 43% in 2012.

ED10: Normally, we would round to the nearest thousand in a report like this. Not for this race. Challenger Judy Jennings out-raised incumbent Tom Maynard, $164 to $0, and outspent him, $8 to $0, for the period. She has a $309 to $237 advantage in cash on hand. It is Jennings’s third race for the seat. She received 40% in 2010 and 43% in 2012.