Candidates vying for six Austin City Council seats have more than $2 million in cash on hand around one month out from Election Day.
Campaign finance reports due Oct. 11 shed light on recent fundraising and spending by the more than 30 candidates in the races for Austin mayor and City Council seats in Districts 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9. The new reports are the first filed since early summer and cover activity from July 1 through late September and early October.
During the filing period, Austin upped its maximum allowed donation to candidates from $400 to $450 leading to many repeat donors across all council races. The next glimpse into candidates' finances will come around one week before the election in early November.
Mayor
Finances for three candidates in the mayoral contest made up the majority—around $1.2 million—of all candidates' cash on hand heading into October after raising more than $374,000 combined in recent months.
Former mayor and state senator Kirk Watson's finances continue to outpace his competitors since posting nearly $1 million in contributions through June. Watson collected an additional $244,000 while spending more than $200,000 since then, and he has more than $821,000 on hand for the weeks ahead.
Watson's campaign is also supported by the Stand Together Austin committee, which received donations ranging from $106 to $75,000 in the past few months for a total haul of $298,504. Top donors included Bryan or Sharoll Sheffield of Marbella Interests and Trilogy CEO Joe Liemandt, who contributed $75,000 and $70,000, respectively.
The committee spent nearly $75,000 mainly on campaign and consulting services and maintained more than $204,000 as of Sept. 29. Other contenders in the mayoral race include state Rep. Celia Israel, who brought in more than $97,000 in contributions since June after raising more than $253,000 to start the year. Israel spent just under $199,000 this period after spending more than $89,000 through June and has $65,502 on hand.
Real estate broker Jennifer Virden reported gathering just over $32,000 and spending more than $68,300 over the past few months, building on the $84,500 raised and nearly $62,400 spent through June. After funding her own campaign with a loan of $300,000 early this year, she maintains nearly $311,000.
Finance reports for candidates Phil Campero Brual, Anthony Bradshaw and Gary S. Spellman were not available Oct 12.
District 1
In East Austin's District 1, incumbent Natasha Harper-Madison remains well ahead of her three challengers.
Building on the nearly $114,000 she raised through June, Harper-Madison reported bringing in an additional $30,730 through September while spending more than $66,000 in that time. She had nearly $62,000 on hand as of Sept. 29. Other District 1 candidates Misael D. Ramos, Clinton Rarey and Melonie House-Dixon reported having less than $10,500 combined, most of which—$8,866—was Ramos'. Those three candidates collected more than $12,700 and spent more than $12,800 in total since June.
Ramos is also supported by the Restore Leadership ATX general-purpose committee, which raised $114,165 and had more than $81,100 on hand as of late September. Donations to Restore Leadership ranged from $15 to $50,000 contributed by Heritage Title Co. President Gary Farmer. Polling and consulting made up most of the committee's nearly $65,000 in spending.
District 3
In neighboring District 3, José Velásquez also continued to maintain his mid-year lead over his five fellow candidates in the race to succeed Council Member Pio Renteria. After raising more than $44,000 to start the year, Velásquez reported more than $30,700 more in contributions from July 1 through Sept. 29 with more than $62,000 on hand. Three other candidates maintained several thousand dollars through the end of last month including Daniela Silva's $8,326, Gavino Fernandez Jr.'s $7,805 and José Noé Elías' $6,404. Silva raised $11,126 through the summer and early fall while Fernandez and Elías reported $4,753 and $4,309, respectively.
Rounding out the candidate pool were Esala Wueschner, who raised $1,015 and maintained less than $170 as of last month, and Yvonne Weldon, who raised $520 and reported no remaining contributions as of Sept. 29.
District 5
The contest for the seat to be vacated by District 5 Council Member Ann Kitchen appears more competitive, with four of six candidates in the South Austin district reporting more than $40,000 remaining for the stretch run. Longtime Kitchen policy adviser Ken Craig led in fundraising over the past few months, while Aaron Velazquez Webman led his competitors in both spending and funds maintained. After bringing in nearly $108,000 through June, including a $50,000 loan to himself, Webman reported raising nearly $14,000 more through late September with more than $63,000 in available funds. Webman spent just over $41,000 during the filing period.
Webman is also supported by the Restore Leadership ATX committee with its more than $81,000 maintained ahead of October.
Craig, who loaned himself $6,000 in September, reported the second-most cash on hand with more than $57,100 remaining as of Sept. 29. He raised more than $49,000 and spent nearly $12,000 as of early fall.
Attorney Ryan Alter posted the next-highest cash total with $49,810 as of Sept. 29, after raising almost $13,300 and spending more than $26,600. Crisis adviser and communications officer Stephanie Bazan reported having $42,683 to spend in the lead-up to the election after raising almost $7,400 and spending nearly $15,400.
Candidates Bill Welch and Brian Anderson II each reported maintaining less than $5,000 in campaign funds, with Welch at $4,632 and Anderson at just under $3,360. Welch had collected $10,775 and spent nearly $18,800, while Anderson raised $4,175 and spent just over $800 through the filing period.
District 8
In Southwest Austin's District 8, incumbent Paige Ellis reported a healthy financial lead on her lone competitive challenger, attorney Richard Smith. Ellis, who collected nearly $44,000 through June, raised $22,400 more through Sept. 29 for a total of $121,439 cash on hand. Ellis spent less than $2,000 over the past three months.
Smith, who raised almost $25,000 to start the year, collected $10,790 more and maintained $31,573 over the same time.
Finance reports for fellow District 8 candidates Antonio D. Ross and Kimberly P. Hawkins were not available Oct. 12.
District 9
In the costliest race outside of the mayoral contest, eight candidates vying for the District 9 council seat reported raising more than $154,000 and maintaining nearly $310,000 combined heading into October. Greg Smith, a business development vice president at Grayhawk Insurance, was by far the leading fundraiser out of the group since June with nearly $64,500 raised. Smith spent more than $35,500 in that time and reported just under $55,000 on hand as of Sept. 29.
CivicActions Design Director Ben Leffler continued to lead his competition in total cash on hand with a total of more than $84,000 remaining. Leffler raised an additional $17,453 and spent almost $25,900 during the period.
Other cash-on-hand totals included policy consultant Kym Olson's $55,550, educator Linda Guerrero's $50,100, Zohaib "Zo" Qadri's $35,522, Tom Wald's $23,087 and Joah Spearman's $6,223.
Those candidates each reported varying fundraising figures. Guerrero led that group with $25,885 raised, followed by Qadri's $22,873 and Spearman's $15,742. Olson earned $5,200 in contributions, and Wald reported $2,470. And spending for those candidates ranged from Spearman's $44,269.28 to Wald's $11,886.01.
Zena Mitchell reported no fundraising or remaining cash after spending $75.04.
