Council president candidates haul in over $20K ahead of primary
With the local primary only a week away, most candidates for Rochester City Council seats have released their pre-primary campaign finance reports, giving insight into the different strategies implemented by the candidates ahead of a packed August 11 ballot.
By a large margin, the race with the most money at play is the at-large president seat, with over $20,000 in contributions pouring into the three candidates’ campaigns since June 12.
In the pre-primary report filed July 31, Brooke Carlson’s campaign reported receiving nearly $12,000 in cash contributions through most of June and July. The contributions haven’t translated to spending, however; Carlson’s campaign spent less than $1,400 over a seven-week span, boosting her cash-in-hand total to $12,180.70.
Kathleen Harrington’s campaign decided to go in a different direction than Carlson, spending $10,410 in a six-week span. Harrington raised $8,897 in that timeframe ($3,000 of that coming from her own pocket), lowering her cash-on-hand to $2,376.35. Current council president Randy Staver threw his support behind Harrington’s effort to replace him, donating $200 on July 17.
Vangie Castro reported $1,639.74 in cash contributions in the past month, with only one contribution rising to the $200 threshold to mandate a listing. After spending just over $1,000 in July, Castro has $589.75 in cash on hand.
Across the wards
In Ward 2, Mark Bransford currently has a large financial edge over Denise Welte and incumbent Michael Wojcik. Bransford raised over $9,000 in an eight-week span, bringing his cash-on-hand total over $10,000. Wojcik, who announced his re-election campaign much after Bransford, reports a cash-on-hand total of $2,786.90. Bransford has been the bigger spender of the two, spending about $1,200 to Wojcik’s $600. Welte has received $1,071 in donations and reports spending exactly $1,000.
PJ Calkins led all Ward 4 candidates in total contributions for the most recent filing, with $2,165.83 in reported donations. Meanwhile, Katrina Pulham, reports having about $1,100 in the bank. Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick cites just under $1,500 in new donations and nearly $2,000 cash-on-hand, and Abel Brito has run a completely self-funded campaign so far — spending every cent of the reported $479.19 donation to his own campaign.
Molly Dennis leads in both donation and cash-on-hand categories for the Ward 6 Council seat race — she reports $1,125 in contributions and just under $600 in total cash-on-hand.
Thomas Rigby and Todd Pisarski are neck-and-neck in total spending, with both citing just under $1200 in total expenditures. Rigby is now under $70 in cash-on-hand, after reporting about $350 in the bank earlier in the summer. Donavan Bailey has spent $452 on his campaign so far and reports $160 in cash-on-hand.
Ward 6 candidate David Diercks is the only candidate without a report on file. City Clerk Anissa Hollingshead says her office is also awaiting further reports from Denise Welte — after being contacted, the campaigns will have 10 days to submit the necessary documentation.
Approximately half of all 2020 candidates filed separate initial and pre-primary reports. For those who filed their initial reports right before the July 31 pre-primary deadline, Hollingshead says the initial reports will adequately serve both purposes.
Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.
Cover: Sample campaign finance form
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the financial figure next to Pulham’s name. Pulham reports having $1,086.22 in cash on-hand.
