We’e seen a lot of very good campaign finance reports, all of which speak to the enthusiasm and engagement of Democrats this cycle. This batch of reports is not as good. These are July reports from State House candidates, take from the most competitive districts based on 2016 results. Let’s see what we’ve got and then we’ll talk about it.
Amanda Jamrok – HD23
Meghan Scoggins – HD28
Dee Ann Torres Miller – HD43
Erin Zwiener – HD45
Vikki Goodwin – HD47
James Talarico – HD52
Michelle Beckley – HD65
Sharon Hirsch – HD66
Beth McLaughlin – HD97
Ana-Maria Ramos – HD102
Terry Meza – HD105
Rep. Victoria Neave – HD107
Joanna Cattanach – HD108
Brandy Chambers – HD112
Rhetta Bowers – HD113
John Turner – HD114
Julie Johnson – HD115
Natali Hurtado – HD126
Alex Karjeker – HD129
Gina Calanni – HD132
Allison Sawyer – HD134
Jon Rosenthal – HD135
John Bucy – HD136
Adam Milasincic – HD138
Dist Name Raised Spent Loans On Hand
=========================================================
023 Jamrok 3,914 4,244 323 191
028 Scoggins 15,545 8,516 3,000 6,499
043 Torres Miller 10,043 9,109 10,000 10,934
045 Zwiener 42,493 30,608 3,100 5,341
047 Goodwin 97,681 112,871 55,000 46,515
052 Talarico 118,017 120,938 25,000 71,428
065 Beckley 20,609 18,785 10,000 5,143
066 Hirsch 28,597 7,042 0 35,387
097 McLaughlin 19,154 14,713 0 12,314
102 Ramos 28,157 19,562 650 18,205
105 Meza 19,439 10,899 0 10,179
107 Neave 133,759 68,017 0 95,765
108 Cattanach 71,919 17,855 0 53,234
112 Chambers 51,220 22,778 0 23,000
113 Bowers 11,541 14,055 0 216
114 Turner 205,862 103,338 7,000 259,765
115 Johnson 204,965 143,261 0 201,005
126 Hurtado 2,989 90 0 1,906
129 Karjeker 59,746 24,474 0 34,527
132 Calanni 3,939 634 750 3,305
134 Sawyer 22,510 16,559 0 20,973
135 Rosenthal 11,143 2,830 1,750 7,312
136 Bucy 90,301 66,723 46,375 69,680
138 Milasincic 35,762 23,553 0 42,009
As with the State Senate candidates, some of these candidates’ reports reflect the full January through June time frame, some begin eight days before the March primary (for those who had a contested primary), and the reports for Erin Zwiener and Vikki Goodwin begin eight days before the May runoff, as they had to win those races to get this far. Some of the candidates for districts you saw in that earlier posts are not here because they didn’t raise anything worth mentioning. Victoria Neave in HD107 is an incumbent, having flipped that district in 2016; everyone else is a challenger. What’s here is what we’ve got to work with.
The numbers speak for themselves, and I’m not going to review them district by district. Candidates in Dallas County have done pretty well overall, though we could sure stand to do better in HDs 105 and 113, which are two of the best pickup opportunities out there. James Talarico and John Bucy in Williamson County are both hauling it in, but I wonder what they’re spending all that dough on, as neither of them had primary opponents. Alex Karjeker in HD129 is off to a strong start, but he’s not exactly in the most competitive district in Harris County. The good news here is that Annie’s List recently announced their endorsements of Gina Calanni and Allison Lami Sawyer, which ought to boost their numbers. *They also endorsed Lina Hidalgo for County Judge, which is great for her but outside the scope of this post.) Prior to that, the only challengers among the Annie’s List candidates were Julie Johnson in HD115 and Senate candidate Beverly Powell. I very much hope they will ramp up their support of legislative contenders, because we can clearly use all the help we can get.
Now to be sure, there’s a lot of money out there going to turn out Democratic voters. It’s likely that money going to the campaigns for Congressional candidates and Beto O’Rourke will bring them out for the other races as well. But this is an all-hands-on-deck situation, and State Rep campaigns are very well suited for door-knocking and other close-to-the-ground efforts. If you’ve already made donations to Beto or a Congressional candidate, that’s great! But if you haven’t given yet or you’re looking to give again, consider dropping a few coins on a State Rep candidate or two. That looks to me to be your best bang for the buck.
I live in Dallas.
Meza in 105, Bowers in 113 recentlygot endorsed by annie’s list so that should help them raise more money. Johnson in 115 has already been endorsed by annie’s list. 105 is already voting for statewide Ds, should tip at the rep level. I think at the end of the day in Dallas the Ds pick up 105, 114, 115, and hold 107. 113 should be a toss up. There is some overlap with CD32/SD16 which could help gotv efforts for Bowers, the Rowlett and Sunnyvale areas are still ruby red. Boos is a Bob Hall starter kit.