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The first campaign finance numbers since April’s primary came out last night, and they look very cozy for Democratic nominee Muriel Bowser. Coasting on a post-primary victory surge, Bowser both outraised Catania and ended the March 11 to June 10 reporting period with twice her opponent’s cash on hand.
(New mayoral candidate Carol Schwartz hasn’t registered yet with the Office of Campaign Finance and wasn’t required to file a report.)
Muriel Bowser
Raised: $858,643.20. Spent: $343,023.09. Cash on hand: $720,323.47.
Winning the primary has been very good to Bowser’s campaign bank account, with various District heavies lining up to contribute. Bowser’s bigwig donors include lobbyists Rod Woodson ($750) and David Wilmot ($2,000), the law firm of former Councilmember Harold Brazil ($500), superlawyer/Wilson Building familiar A. Scott Bolden ($1,000), and developer Jim Abdo ($2,000).
One-time supporters of Bowser’s defeated primary opponents kicked in too, with former Tommy Wells campaign manager Chebon Marshall contributing $102. The firefighter’s union, which backed Wells in the primary, gave Bowser $2,000. Shaw businessman Ibrahim Mumin, who traveled around so much with Jack Evans in the waning days of the primary race that it seemed like he was the one running for office, gave Bowser $2,000.
Meanwhile, LL doesn’t know what Bowser thinks of rectangle-cut pizzas, but they apparently like her a lot—-Ledo’s Pizza gave her campaign $2,000.
Bowser’s campaign spent $20,015 on TV ads in the closing days of the primary. That’s almost as much as it paid to the consulting firm owned by go-to Adrian Fenty Green Team strategist Tom Lindenfeld, whose company took home a very respectable $23,694.26 two weeks after Bowser’s primary win.
David Catania
Raised: $553,358.16. Spent: $202,651.25. Cash on hand: $350,706.91.
While Catania didn’t outraise Bowser, he still brought in a whole lot of money, including $115,510.85 transferred from his exploratory committee.
Among Catania’s donors: gay activist Deacon Maccubbin ($500), lobbyist Woodson ($500), and Richmond federal reserve board member Russell C. Lindner ($2,000). Law firm Greenberg Traurig, for which Catania used to work, kicked in $2,000 through its PAC.
Gertrude Stein club co-founder Paul Kuntzler, who declared the LGBT club “irrelevant” after it endorsed Bowser, put his money where his meeting diatribes are and contributed $25. Finally, following in the tradition of Paul Wolfowitz‘s donation to failed Evans, ex-George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum contributed $250.
Catania’s expenses include $20,366.63 for video production.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery