Left to right: Tonda Hill, Dakota Loomis, Suzanne Valdez

If you thought the race for Douglas County District Attorney was drawing some interest, the latest campaign finance reports surely will back up your contention. The three-way race to be the Democratic nominee has drawn nearly $90,000 in campaign contributions thus far, which is a historically high number.

Most of the money has gone to one candidate: Democratic challenger and Lawrence attorney Dakota Loomis has received $70,394 in contributions from Jan. 1 through July 25, according to campaign finance reports that were due this week.

The current district attorney, Democrat Suzanne Valdez, has raised the least of the three candidates, with $4,450. Challenger Tonda Hill, a Lawrence resident and Wyandotte County prosecutor, collected $14,015 in contributions during the period.

In total, that’s just more than $88,000 that the three candidates have collected in donations. This is the second consecutive election cycle where the county has had a hotly contested Democratic primary for district attorney, but these contributions suggest the temperature has increased several degrees this time around.

In the 2020 Democratic primary, Valdez challenged then-incumbent District Attorney Charles Branson, and the duo was joined by Lawrence attorney Cooper Overstreet. That primary race, according to past records, garnered just under $55,000 in campaign contributions.

It is impossible to say without looking through decades of records with the state, but the contribution levels in this primary race are likely a record for a Douglas County district attorney race.

What it all means, we won’t know until the election concludes on Aug. 6. Valdez, after all, was the smallest fundraiser in her 2020 race too. But the numbers this time are quite different. Then, she had a fundraising gap of about $12,000. Today, it is about $66,000.

The district attorney numbers were the most eye-popping campaign finance results this week, but there are some other interesting numbers there, especially for incumbents. Three incumbents have been out-raised by their challengers during this reporting period.

Incumbent County Commissioner Shannon Reid has been out-raised by challenger Lisa Larsen, a current Lawrence city commissioner, by more than $10,000. State Sen. Marci Francisco has been out-raised by challenger Christina Haswood, a current state representative, by about $18,000. State Rep. Lance Neelly has been out-raised by challenger Mike Stieben, a current Leavenworth County commissioner, by more than $2,500 in a Republican primary for a House district that represents parts of eastern Douglas County.

Then, there is this tidbit. One Democratic candidate, Patrick Schmidt, in the new State Senate District No. 19 — which represents northwest Lawrence, eastern Topeka, and Lecompton — has spent more than $130,000 on the race. His next closest competitor, Vic Miller, has spent just more than $20,000.

Here’s a look at a whole lot of campaign finance information for both county races and area state legislative races. We show total amount raised during the period, total amount spent during the period, and how much cash the campaign had as of July 25. Note that the cash on hand doesn’t always equal the difference between contributions and expenses because some campaigns began raising money before Jan. 1, and thus brought money into the new year.

District Attorney

Democratic candidates for the countywide position and their totals are:

• Loomis: $70,394 in contributions; $29,126 in expenditures; $41,267 of cash on hand.

• Hill: $14,015 in contributions; $9,492 in expenditures; $4,523 of cash on hand

• Valdez: $4,450 in contributions; $3,076 in expenditures; $4,188 of cash on hand

Of note in these totals is that Valdez, the incumbent, hasn’t had a single donation to her campaign in July, according to the filings. Valdez replaced her campaign treasurer on July 1. Her treasurer had been Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden. Seiden, however, left his position as deputy DA after an incident was caught on a surveillance camera in the county’s Judicial and Law Enforcement Center on June 21. Video footage showed Seiden imitating in a mocking way controversial public commenter Justin Spiehs, whom the district attorney’s office has previously prosecuted. The video also created questions about whether Valdez was supportive of the imitation and was laughing along at the scene, although she recently has said that was not the case and that she found the incident to be unprofessional and that she dealt with it swiftly.

The winner of the Democratic primary is set to face off against the sole Republican candidate in the race, Mike Warner, a former federal prosecutor. Without an opponent in the primary, Warner has done limited fundraising during the period, and reported $865 in contributions.

County Commission District 2

Democratic candidates for the seat that includes North Lawrence, the eastern Lawrence area around downtown, Grant Township and the portion of Wakarusa Township north of Lawrence are:

• Larsen: $16,777 in contributions; $12,306 in expenditures; $4,470 of cash on hand.

• Reid: $6,612 in contributions; $4,379 in expenditures; $2,237 of cash on hand.

No Republican filed for the seat, meaning the winner of the Democratic primary is likely to win the seat in November.

County Commission District 3

Republican candidates for the seat that includes western portions of Lawrence, the city of Lecompton and the entirety of five townships — Willow Springs, Marion, Clinton, Kanwaka and Lecompton — are:

• Pam McDermott, $3,629 in contributions; $1,311 in expenditures; $2,317 of cash on hand.

• John Landon: Landon did not file a campaign contribution report with the Douglas County Clerk’s office as of the state-mandated Monday deadline, according to information provided by the county clerk’s office.

Incumbent County Commissioner Karen Willey is the lone Democrat to file for the seat, and will face the winner of the Republican primary. Willey has raised about $13,000 during the primary season.

County Commission District 4

Democratic candidates for the seat that includes a portion of southeastern Lawrence, Eudora and Eudora Township, and the portion of Wakarusa Township located between Grant Township and the eastern edge of Lawrence are:

• Gene Dorsey: $3,925 in contributions; $4,544 in expenditures; $1,666 of cash on hand.

• Mike Kelso: $1,695 in contributions; $1,211 in expenditures; $484 of cash on hand.

Whoever wins the primary will face two other candidates in November: Libertarian Steve Jacob and Republican Timothy Bruce. Neither reported significant fundraising activity during the period.

County Commission District 5

Democratic candidates for the seat that includes a portion of south Lawrence, southern Wakarusa Township, Baldwin City and Palmyra Township are:

• Erica Anderson: no contributions; $1,728 in expenditures; negative cash on hand of $1,728.

• Nicholas Matthews has attested that he will not raise nor spend more than $1,000 during the campaign, and thus is exempt from filing campaign finance documents.

The winner will face off against Libertarian Kirsten Kuhn and Republican Rich Lorenzo in the general election. Lorenzo has done significant fundraising during the period, despite not having a primary opponent. He raised about $10,000 during the period.

Kansas Senate District 2

Democratic candidates for the seat that covers nearly all of Lawrence except for portions of far west Lawrence and northwest Lawrence are:

• Francisco: $34,749 in contributions; $31,161 in expenditures; $41,684 of cash on hand.

• Haswood: $52,023 in contributions; $37,308 in expenditures; $14,715 of cash on hand.

Of note in this race is that Francisco, a longtime Lawrence legislator, entered the year with a significant amount of campaign contributions. Francisco raised more than $12,000 in contributions during the last part of 2023. She began the year with more than $38,000 in her campaign account.

The winner is expected to face Lawrence resident David Miller in the general election. Miller is the lone Republican to file for the Senate seat. He has done no fundraising, but has about $4,000 in campaign cash that he’s self funded, according to filed reports.

Kansas Senate District 9

The Republican candidates for the seat that includes all of the Baldwin City, Eudora and other parts of rural Douglas County, in addition to portions of Leavenworth and Johnson counties are:

• Incumbent Beverly Gossage: $24,633 in contributions; $25,134 in expenditures; $50,399 cash on hand.

• Bryan Zesiger: $1,215 in contributions; $8,172 in expenditures; $5,566 of cash on hand.

The winner is expected to face in the general election Norman Mallicoat, of Olathe, who is the lone Democrat to file for the seat. He’s reported no fundraising activity.

Kansas Senate District 19

The Democratic candidates for the seat, which includes portions of northwest Lawrence, east Topeka, Lecompton and rural areas of Douglas and Shawnee counties are:

• Vic Miller: $22,695 in contributions; $21,121 in expenditures; $25,015 cash on hand.

• Patrick Schmidt: $51,967 in contributions; $131,788 in expenditures; $34,617 of cash on hand.

• ShaMecha King Simms: $3,880 in contributions; $847 in expenditures; $3,305 of cash on hand.

The Republican candidates for the seat are:

• Cynthia Smith: $20,450 in contributions; $5,672 in expenditures; $14,777 of cash on hand.

• Tyler Wible: $1,355 in contributions; $234 in expenditures; $1,120 of cash on hand.

Of note in this race is that Schmidt has contributions from nearly 400 donors across the state. The majority of his expenditures have gone to a seemingly small, Lindsborg-based political consulting firm, Post Rock Partners. The Schmidt campaign has paid that firm just more than $87,000 during the period for consulting and mailing work.

The district does not have an incumbent, as the district is a new one created by the Kansas Legislature as part of the once-per-decade redistricting process.

Kansas House District 10

The Democratic candidates for the seat that includes nearly all the Lawrence city limits south of 15th Street and east of Iowa Street are:

• Suzanne Wikle: $13,698 in contributions; $15,773 in expenditures; $14,508 of cash on hand.

• Zachary Hawkins: $386 in contributions; $0 in expenditures; $386 cash on hand.

There’s no incumbent in this race, as Haswood holds this seat, but chose to run for the Kansas Senate rather than seek reelection in the district. No Republican filed for the seat, meaning the winner of the August primary is likely to win the seat.

Kansas House District 42

The Republican candidates for the seat that includes northeast Douglas County, a large portion of Eudora and portions of Leavenworth County are:

• Neelly: $10,250 in contributions; $13,219 in expenditures; $13,771 of cash on hand.

• Stieben: $12,982 in contributions; $12,124 in expenditures; $857 of cash on hand.

The winner of the Republican primary is expected to face in the general election Lawrence resident Eddy Martinez, who is the lone Democrat to file for the seat. Martinez has done little fundraising during the primary season, raising about $750.

Kansas House District 46

• Brittany Hall: $3,445 in contributions; $642 in expenditures; $2,828 of cash on hand.

• Brooklynne Mosley: $17,659 in contributions; $8,513 in expenditures; $9,145 of cash on hand.

• Logan Ginavan: $770 in contributions; $887 in expenditures; negative cash on hand of $117.

Editor’s note: This article was corrected to accurately reflect Wikle’s expenditure amount.