Continuing to look at the 30-day campaign finance reports. A lot of candidates have been reporting big hauls, especially in the hot State Rep races. As before, I will split these into four parts. Part one, with statewide, SBOE, and State Senate, is here. Part two is State House races from the Houston area, which is this post. Part three will be State House races from elsewhere in the state, and part four will be for Democratic incumbents that may be targeted. I’m not going to be doing every race of course, just the ones of interest. January reports for Harris County State House races are here, and the July reports for these candidates are here.
Martin Shupp, HD03
Cecil Bell, HD03
Lorena McGill, HD15
Steve Toth, HD15
Jeff Antonelli, HD23
Mayes Middleton, HD23
Brian Rogers, HD24
Greg Bonnen, HD24
Patrick Henry, HD25
Cody Vasut, HD25
Sarah DeMerchant, HD26
Jacey Jetton, HD26
Eliz Markowitz, HD28
Gary Gates, HD28
Travis Boldt, HD29
Ed Thompson, HD29
Joe Cardenas, HD85
Phil Stephenson, HD85
Natali Hurtado, HD126
Sam Harless, HD126
Kayla Alix, HD129
Dennis Paul, HD129
Gina Calanni, HD132
Mike Schofield, HD132
Sandra Moore, HD133
Jim Murphy, HD133
Ann Johnson, HD134
Sarah Davis, HD134
Jon Rosenthal, HD135
Justin Ray, HD135
Akilah Bacy, HD138
Lacey Hull, HD138
Dist Candidate Raised Spent Loan On Hand
==============================================================
HD03 Shupp 305 618 0 305
HD03 Bell 12,400 14,708 82,140 16,924
HD15 McGill 27,474 23,342 0 12,161
HD15 Toth 38,615 18,138 0 40,889
HD23 Antonelli 10,889 5,393 0 5,495
HD23 Middleton 318,855 85,129 500,000 317,001
HD24 Rogers 455 240 0 1,170
HD24 Bonnen 47,466 70,626 450,000 541,745
HD25 Henry 3,010 5,355 0 1,775
HD25 Vasut 37,245 23,251 1,600 1,865
HD26 DeMerchant 322,433 94,227 0 90,146
HD26 Jetton 295,526 26,240 25,000 91,922
HD28 Markowitz 108,038 55,813 0 68,241
HD28 Gates 374,629 371,476 1,736,100 67,328
HD29 Boldt 59,421 18,253 0 40,635
HD29 Thompson 106,896 148,176 0 344,974
HD85 Cardenas 14,731 7,872 5,027 2,830
HD85 Stephenson 12,375 22,403 29,791 24,691
HD126 Hurtado 311,139 107,738 0 210,474
HD126 Harless 449,290 53,893 20,000 290,216
HD129 Alix 43,480 7,991 0 35,568
HD129 Paul 72,400 45,052 156,000 45,875
HD132 Calanni 308,292 75,081 0 235,006
HD132 Schofield 252,100 65,647 0 98,339
HD133 Moore 10,976 11,207 0 9,593
HD133 Murphy 140,000 89,105 0 586,798
HD134 Johnson 481,430 292,265 0 314,593
HD134 Davis 597,463 93,842 0 299,564
HD135 Rosenthal 206,564 111,248 0 110,589
HD135 Ray 418,811 126,810 0 52,800
HD138 Bacy 630,565 99,967 0 353,811
HD138 Hull 277,421 45,612 0 84,768
First things first, I had the wrong Republican listed for HD26 last time. Just a goof on my part, which is now corrected.
Also, as a reminder, when there’s a big disparity between the money raised and spent, and the cash on hand, look for a significant amount of in kind donations. A lot of the contributions to Mike Schofield, Justin Ray (nearly $300K in his case), and Lacey Hull are expenditures on their behalf by PACs like Associated Republicans on Texas. Some of this spending is quite visible – I’ve seen many ads for Hull and Ray (mostly Hull) on cable, mostly during sporting events. Some of that is wasted since I don’t live anywhere near either of their districts, but I’m sure people in those district did see them.
The main action outside of Harris County is in HD26, where both Sarah DeMerchant and Jacey Jetton. Both of them also had large in kind totals – $107K for deMerchant, mostly from the HDCC, and $170K for Jetton, again mostly from the ART. Eliz Markowitz raised a decent amount, and I give Lorena McGill and A for effort in her deep red district. The one candidate I wish had done better is Travis Boldt. HD29 is not a must-have to win the House, but it’s in a part of Brazoria County that’s been trending blue, and I feel like it’s worth the investment. Maybe something will happen in the 8 day reporting period. On the Republican side, Phil Stephenson has it in cruise control, and so far his anti-Abbott apostasy hasn’t been particularly lucrative yet for Steve Toth.
Natali Hurtado has another strong report, putting her a the top of the class among Democratic challengers to incumbents. Sam Harless is taking that challenge seriously. None of the longer-shot candidates have raised enough to change perceptions.
Gina Calanni and Jon Rosenthal have done well, though Rosenthal was outgunned by the PAC money that boosted Justin Ray. Sarah Davis bounced back from her unimpressive July report but still trails Ann Johnson in cash on hand. Akilah Bacy ($212K in kind) had the big report of the period. I have seen one pro-Bacy ad so far – I mostly watch sports on live TV, so maybe she’s got some running on other channels, who knows – and at least one anti-Bacy attack ad to go along with the Lacey Hull ads. I’ve seen a few Rosenthal ads as well, not as many as the Ray ads, but not too far behind. I’ve not seen any ads for Johnson or Davis, though I’m closer to HD134 than either 135 or 138. Maybe better targeting, or they’re not doing TV, or just not advertising where I’m watching. Have you seen any ads for any of these races?
More races from around the state coming next. Let me know what you think.
I have seen an add for Ann Johnson on the 5 O’clock news on several stations.
I saw one for Ann Johnson on Channel two a couple of days ago.
CNN is being funded by Sarah Davis and Ann Johnson right now. They could be buying the small market buys instead of the citywide buy. And I’d prob be in the River Oaks market they could be buying. Could be why I see them every commercial break.
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