Former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh, left, and former state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón, right, may lead the way in fundraising in their respective races. (Courtesy photos)
Former state party chairs may lead the way in fundraising in their respective races
The first finance reports for candidates running for state offices are due Tuesday, and they promise to shed a lot of light on how the 2010 election is shaping up.
The most hotly contested primaries thus far have been the Republican gubernatorial contest and the fight for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. In addition, there are already at least three other primary races with more than one declared candidate: The GOP lieutenant governor race and the primaries on both sides of the aisle for state land commissioner.
But it’s in the Republican gubernatorial and Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial primaries that we should expect to get a clearer picture of the lay of the land with next week’s finance reports. In both races, there’s a high expectation that the former chairs of their respective state parties will do well.
GOP gubernatorial primary
In the GOP gubernatorial primary are four candidates: state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, Doña Ana County District Attorney Susana Martinez, public relations professional Doug Turner and former state GOP Chairman Allen Weh. Nobody has released fundraising totals yet.
It’s fair to assume that, with former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson still on the fence about whether she’s going to run, all the candidates may be having a hard time raising money, but at least Turner has said that he isn’t relying on longtime Wilson supporters to fund his campaign.
There’s a good chance Weh will lead the pack in fundraising. We don’t know if has self-financed his campaign, but he’s touted the success of his “multi-million dollar” business on the campaign trail, and it’s likely that he will put some of his money into his campaign at some point if he hasn’t done it already.
In addition, when he was state party chair Weh was known for his ability to raise impressive sums of money, and it’s reasonable to expect he’ll be able to duplicate at least some of that as a candidate.
Weh told supporters Thursday in an e-mail that he exceeded the $7,000 he needed to raise in the final days of the fundraising period to reach his overall goal, but he didn’t say what the goal was.
Turner should also have a decent fundraising report. He owns a business and has some ability to self-finance. In addition, he was state director and manager for former Gov. Gary Johnson’s campaigns and deputy political director for Steve Forbes’ unsuccessful 2000 presidential campaign.
Turner may have the ability to tap into fundraising from the libertarian wing of his party that the other candidates won’t be able to access. Having worked on Forbes’ campaign, he may also have the ability to draw significant out-of-state money.
The big question, I think, is whether Martinez and Arnold-Jones can raise enough money to compete. Arnold-Jones has a loyal following after forcing webcasting on her colleagues last year, and Martinez may have moved beyond being a regional candidate by developing support in the Farmington area, but can either come up with the cash to stay competitive?
Time will tell.
Democratic lieutenant gubernatorial primary
We know of at least one candidate for statewide office who’s having a fairly easy time raising money – former state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón, who’s running for lieutenant governor. He said in late September that he had already raised more than $100,000, and he had four additional fundraisers planned after that.
In addition, he has raised more than $40,000 on the liberal fundraising site ActBlue – with more than half of that coming after he announced he had surpassed $100,000 in total fundraising.
Colón’s fundraising could top that of some of the GOP gubernatorial candidates. The question is whether anyone else in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor is keeping up with him.
No one else has released any information about fundraising, so we don’t know the answer.
Many Democrats have said they expect Colón and Lawrence Rael, executive director of the Mid-Region Council of Governments, to be the top candidates in the race, and Rael has also had some success at raising money, sources say. But how much success isn’t clear.
The other candidates are Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano, state Sens. Linda Lopez and Gerald Ortiz y Pino of Albuquerque and State Rep. Jose Campos of Santa Rosa. Sen. Tim Eichenberg, D-Albuquerque, has also been making rumblings about running or considering running, but he has not formally declared his candidacy.
We’ll know more next week.