By Missy Schrott | mschrott@alextimes.com
The last campaign finance reports to be released before the Democratic primary on June 12 reveal that Vice Mayor Justin Wilson both outraised and outspent his opponent, incumbent Mayor Allison Silberberg, three-to-one in the second quarter of fundraising.
This was a reversal from the first quarter of 2018, when Silberberg outraised Wilson, $53,127 to $38,075.
In quarter two, however, which spanned April 1 to May 31, Wilson reported raising $96,232 in funding while Silberberg reported $31,949 – less than a third of that.
In the same two-month period from the beginning of April to the end of May, Wilson also spent about three times as much as Silberberg, his expenditures adding up to $126,845 and hers totaling $43,055.
Going into the primary, with all said and done, both candidates have about $30,000 left in cash on hand.
When asked about being out-financed three-to-one by Wilson, Silberberg said she’d been out-financed in her last run for mayor against then incumbent Mayor Bill Euille and had still won that election. In 2015, Euille spent nearly triple what Silberberg did in the primary election, and nearly double what she did in the general election.
Silberberg also cautioned against grouping in-kind contributions, which are donated goods and services, with cash fundraising.
Of Wilson’s $96,232, the majority came from inkind contributions. Of the $45,667 in-kind donations, $20,000 was from Silverback Strategies and $20,000 was from the National Association of Realtors.
Excluding in-kind donations, the difference in the candidates’ quarter two finances is less stark, with cash contributions totaling $50,565 for Wilson and $30,130 for Silberberg. This quarter, Wilson had 231 donors, and Silberberg had 206, excluding in-kind donors. Wilson’s average cash contribution was $219 and Silberberg’s was $146.
“I’m grateful to all those who have given,” Silberberg said. “I’m grateful, and we’re very focused on the last week, the last days of the campaign, and we’re asking everyone to … get out to vote and encourage their friends to vote.”
Wilson did not comment on out-financing Silberberg, but said the financial reports demonstrate the citywide support for his campaign.
“We’re very excited, just like each of the periods, in this race,” Wilson said on Tuesday. “We’ve gotten very broad base support from all over the city and significant amounts of contributions and very low average contributions. So we’re pretty
excited, and we have the resources necessary to compete in seven more days.”
In the race for council, the top fundraisers for quarter two were Elizabeth Bennett-Parker with $27,347, Robert Ray with $23,100 and Amy Jackson with $21,375.
Del Pepper’s account had the most funds raised in the second quarter at $40,519, however, $35,000 was self-financed.
This quarter’s biggest spenders were Matt Feely with $32,310 and Bennett-Parker with $31,838. Pepper was third with $21,421. All other candidates spent less than $14,000.
