Latest campaign finance reports show one County Commission incumbent trailing challenger; Loomis has $50K lead in DA race
photo by: Contributed
The latest campaign finance reports are out, and they show one incumbent county commissioner trailing in the fundraising race, while the gulf between the two candidates for Douglas County District Attorney is more than $50,000.
Douglas County Commissioner Shannon Reid trails in campaign contributions to her opponent in the race for Douglas County District 2. Reid collected $2,910 in donations during the reporting period from July 26 to Oct. 24, according to a required campaign finance report filed with the Douglas County Clerk’s office.
Reid’s opponent, Brad Chun, raised nearly twice that amount during the period. The Chun campaign collected $5,714 in contributions, according to the filing.
Reid, a Democrat, had $5,417 of total campaign funds to spend during the period, however, because she had money left over in her campaign account from fundraising she had done earlier for the August primary election. Chun, who is running as an independent, did not enter the race until after the primary election, and thus had no carryover funds.
Reid found herself behind in the fundraising race during the primary election, but it did not prevent her from winning a solid victory — 57% to 43% — over Lawrence City Commissioner Lisa Larsen.
The Douglas County Commission District 2 includes North Lawrence, the eastern area around downtown, Grant Township, and the portion of Wakarusa Township north of Lawrence.
The local race with the biggest difference in campaign cash is the contest for Douglas County District Attorney. Democrat Dakota Loomis and Republican Mike Warner are competing to replace incumbent Democrat Suzanne Valdez, who lost her reelection bid in the primary.
A Republican hasn’t held the District Attorney’s office in Douglas County for 20 years, and Warner will have to overcome a large cash disadvantage to take the spot in the Nov. 5 elections.
Loomis raised $12,825 during the most recent reporting period, but due to carryover cash from his successful primary election campaign, he had $54,092 available to spend during the period.
Warner raised $2,675 during the most recent period, and although Warner did not have a primary opponent in August, he did have some carryover funds from the previous campaign period, giving him $3,540 available to spend during the most recent period.
Here’s a look at other details from campaign finance reports related to local races:
• County Commissioner Karen Willey, a Democrat, has built a sizable campaign contribution advantage over her Republican challenger Pam McDermott in the race to represent Douglas County Commission District No. 3.
Willey collected $11,592 in donations during the period. With carryover cash from previous campaigns, Willey had $14,605 available to spend during the period. McDermott raised $7,711 during the period. With carryover cash, she had $10,124 available to spend during the period.
District No. 3 includes the western portion of Lawrence, the city of Lecompton and the entirety of five townships: Willow Springs, Marion, Clinton, Kanwaka and Lecompton.
• A Republican is the leading fundraiser for the newly formed Douglas County District No. 5. However, the race is a wide three-way affair as a Libertarian candidate also is running an active campaign in the south Douglas County district.
Republican Rich Lorenzo raised $6,137 in contributions during the period. With carryover funds, he had $11,785 available to spend during the period. That was a sizable advantage over Democrat Erica Anderson who raised $3,736 in contributions and had that same amount available to spend. However, the race has a twist in how votes may be divided, as Libertarian Kirsten Kuhn is raising funds at a greater rate than most third-party candidates. Kuhn raised $1,691 in contributions, and had $1,891 in cash available.
District 5 includes a small portion of south Lawrence, southern Wakarusa Township, Baldwin City and Palmyra Township.
• The other new County Commission district — District No. 4 in eastern Douglas County — is producing less fundraising activity. Democrat Gene Dorsey raised $600 during the period, and had $3,976 available to spend. Republican Tim Bruce raised $500 during the period and had $500 available to spend. The Libertarian in the race, Steven Jacob, wasn’t required to file a campaign finance report because he committed to spend and receive less than $1,000 in the campaign.
District 4 includes a small portion of southeastern Lawrence, Eudora and Eudora Township, and the small portion of Wakarusa Township located between Grant Township and the eastern edge of Lawrence.
• In Kansas Senate District No. 3, current Republican Sen. Rick Kloos has a big cash advantage as he tries to win the seat in this redrawn district that now includes parts of west Lawrence. Kloos had $77,525 in contributions and $118,589 available to spend in the period. Democratic challenger Dena Sattler had $27,172 in contributions and $43,865 available to spend.
Senate District No. 3 includes large portions of the Lawrence city limits west of Wakarusa Drive. It also includes neighborhoods east of Wakarusa Drive between Bob Billings Parkway and Clinton Parkway and west of Quail Creek Drive. The district also includes all of Osage County, parts of northern Franklin County, and southeast Shawnee County.
• In Kansas Senate District No. 2 — Lawrence’s largest senate district — Democratic incumbent Marci Francisco has a large lead in contributions over Republican challenger David Miller. Francisco had $35,366 in contributions and $77,050 available to spend. Miller had $13,120 in contributions and $14,220 available to spend.
Senate District 2 covers nearly all of Lawrence, except for portions of far west Lawrence and portions of northwest Lawrence.
• The new Kansas Senate District No. 19, which includes parts of northwest Lawrence, has become heavily dominated by Democratic fundraising. With no incumbent in the race, Democrat Patrick Schmidt raised $49,693 in contributions and had $84,311 available to spend in the period after raising large sums during his primary election campaign. Republican Tyler Wible raised $4,226 in contributions and had $5,346 available to spend.
In Lawrence, Senate District 19 covers the area north of Sixth Street, between Queens Road and Kasold Drive. It also includes the city limits of Lecompton and the rural area surrounding it. A significant amount of the population in the district, though, is in eastern Topeka.