Constitutional Candidates Fundraising Competitive In September

Constitutional officer candidates were competitive in their September fundraising with Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mike Ross outpacing Republican Asa Hutchinson by $180,000.

The reports, filed by an October 15th deadline, were a compilation of money raised, money spent and cash-on-hand during the month of September.

Democratic Lt. Governor candidate John Burkhalter, who is facing Republican Tim Griffin, loaned his campaign an additional $250,000 during the month. Burkhalter previously loaned his campaign $199,000, bringing his total campaign loans to $449,000 – the largest of any of the 14 major party candidates for the state’s seven constitutional offices.

Here’s a breakdown of the fundraising match-ups for the month of September:

GOVERNOR
Asa Hutchinson – R
Raised: $360,356
Spent: $785,782
Cash-on-hand: $241,584

Mike Ross – D
Raised: $540,957
Spent: $520,642
Cash-on-hand: $327,862

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Leslie Rutledge – R
Raised: $90,439
Spent: $21,911
Cash-on-hand: $109,276

Nate Steel – D
Raised: $132,104
Spent: $55,471
Cash-on-hand: $426,065

LT. GOVERNOR
John Burkhalter – D
Raised: $99,546
Spent: $457,047
Cash-on-hand: $134,041
(Loan: $449,000)

Tim Griffin – R
Raised: $103,135
Spent: $255,755
Cash-on-hand: $311,360

SECRETARY OF STATE
Susan Inman – D
Raised: $25,702
Spent: $55,098
Cash-on-hand: $12,000

*Mark Martin – R
Raised: $8,370
Spent: $7,014
Cash-on-hand: $43,125

TREASURER
Karen Garcia – D
Raised: $13,478
Spent: $72,863
Cash-on-hand: $13,804
(Loan: $2,694)

Dennis Milligan – R
Raised: $16,815
Spent: $10,442
Cash-on-hand: $35,928
(Loan: $755)

AUDITOR
Andrea Lea – R
Raised: $17,610
Spent: $9,910
Cash-on-hand: $39,670

Regina Hampton – D
Raised: $14,922
Spent: $24,262
Cash-on-hand: $57,425

LAND COMMISSIONER
*John Thurston – R
Raised: $6,475
Spent: $2,327
Cash-on-hand: $19,205

Mark Robertson – D
Raised: $18,525
Spent: $3,762
Cash-on-hand: $59,679

* Denotes incumbent

Candidates for federal office also had a Oct. 15 deadline for filing quarterly campaign expense reports. Talk Business & Politics will prepare a separate post of those filings once all Senate and Congressional candidate filings are available online.