The latest campaign finance reports are in, as a few political wonks around Seattle have reported. The Stranger, Publicola and, maybe most comprehensively, Erica Barnett offer solid rundowns of who’s raising what, where, and when.
The campaign story of the month has been the Pamela Banks vs. Kshama Sawant saga in District 3. Banks slammed Sawant for hosting a fundraiser in New York City (which brought in $9,000), arguing Sawant is not focused on local issues. Banks then outraised Sawant in May – and everybody else – with $42,650. Sawant filed her reports past the June 10 midnight deadline, most reports coming in at about 12:30 a.m. Her total of about $34,000 is nothing to sniff at. And, as Joel Connelly of seattlepi.com points out, Sawant could have a cool $25,000 coming in from her Town Hall rally last weekend.
Also of note is the District 4 race. Jean Godden has long been seen as the most vulnerable incumbent (she squeaked out a win last time around). And while she has still outraised her opponents over the course of the race, Rob Johnson trumped Godden’s $7,000 last month by raising $10,000.
Using the numbers from the city’s Ethics and Election Commission site, we’ve created a tool to help engaged citizens click around and explore the numbers by district. Note: These numbers represent total raised, not cash on hand.
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A few top fundraisers in May:
• Debora Juarez in District 5 with $16,825
• Incumbent Mike O’Brien in District 6 with about $11,000
• Incumbent Sally Bagshaw in 7 raised about $7,000, but it doesn’t really matter: Her opponents haven’t raised a dime.
• Council President Tim Burgess brought Banks-like numbers: $37,000.
The primaries are around the corner(ish) in August. If money equals support (a wholly unscientific assumption) the winners would be:
- Shannon Braddock and Lisa Herbold in District 1.
- Bruce Harrell and Tammy Morales in District 2.
- Kshama Sawant and Pamela Banks in District 3.
- Jean Godden and Rob Johnson in District 4.
- Sandy Brown and Debora Juarez in District 5.
- Mike O'Brien and Catherine Weatbrook in District 6.
- Sally Bagshaw in District 7.
- Tim Burgess and John Roderick in the first citywide seat.
- And Lorena Gonzalez and Bill Bradburd in the second citywide seat.
