Susana Martinez (left, courtesy photo) and Diane Denish (photo by Heath Haussamen)
Heading into the final three weeks of 2010 election, a look at who the GOP is giving money to reveals which statewide races the minority party believes it has the best chance to win. The top three are the contests for governor, secretary of state and land commissioner.
Here’s a breakdown of finance reports filed Tuesday:
Governor
Republican Susana Martinez has more money than Democrat Diane Denish heading into the final stretch.
In the last reporting period, Martinez raised $1,444,431.34 and spent $1,128,375.49, according to her finance report. She ended the reporting period with $1,345,984,74 on hand.
Denish, by comparison, raised $820,595.48 and spent $1,176,147.49, according to her finance report. She ended the reporting period with $950,606.77 on hand.
Martinez received a massive contribution from the Republican Governors Association – $500,000. Denish received $50,000 from the Democratic Governors Association and $100,000 from AFSCME.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story in the governor’s race. Also noteworthy is the $385,000 the DGA spent during the last reporting cycle on TV ads in support of Denish.
Secretary of state
The secretary of state’s race is noteworthy because of a big contribution from the GOP to Republican Dianna Duran, and because of how little Democratic incumbent Mary Herrera raised.
Herrera raised $9,425, spent $32,489.71 and ended the reporting period with $51,400.33, according to her report. Duran raised $54,121.62, spent $5,022.26 and ended the reporting period with $84,990.84 on hand, according to her report.
Duran’s only large contribution was $25,000 from the Republican Party of New Mexico – noteworthy because only Duran and the Republican candidate for land commissioner received such contributions from the state party.
Land commissioner
In the land commissioner race, Republican Matt Rush accepted $25,000 from the state GOP as he significantly outraised Democrat Ray Powell.
Rush raised $93,705, spent $153,537.98 and ended the reporting period with $63,198.30 on hand, according to his report. Powell raised $33,352.01, spent $56,866.73, and ended the reporting period with $47,565.13 on hand, according to his report.
Lieutenant governor
In the lieutenant governor’s race, Democrat Brian Colón reported raised $7,450.04, spent $15,851.51 and ended the reporting period with $11,966.57 on hand, according to his report. Republican John Sanchez raised $31,615, spent $9,342.67 and ended the reporting period with $58,625.02 on hand, according to his report.
Attorney general
In the attorney general race, Democrat Gary King raised $73,875, spent $275,221.08 and ended the reporting period with $139,002.78 on hand, according to his report. Republican Matt Chandler raised $54,976.14, spent $112,040.53 and ended the reporting period with $109,389.72, according to his report.
Treasurer
In the state treasurer race, Democrat James B. Lewis raised $17,701.67, spent $3,853.16 and ended the reporting period with $26,716.02 on hand, according to his report. Republican Jim Schoonover raised $1,330, spent $1,411.55 and ended the reporting period with $458.84 on hand, according to his report.
Auditor
In the state auditor race, Democrat Hector Balderas raised $22,789.82, spent $13,344.13 and ended the reporting period with $150,022.87 on hand, according to his report. Republican Errol Chavez raised $910, spent $2,619.29 and ended the reporting period with $10,967.73 on hand, according to his report.
Chavez’s problems with filing his reports on time continued. He filed this one almost 4.5 hours after the required deadline.
The bottom line
The bottom line is that groups on both sides continue to pump big money into the governor’s race, meaning that, despite Martinez’s lead in the polls, Democrats haven’t given up on Denish. Republicans apparently also think they have a shot at winning secretary of state and land commissioner, as evidenced by the big contributions to their candidates in those races.
Chandler has raised enough money to make the AG’s race interesting, but there’s an increasing sense among Republicans I’ve spoken with that King may be headed for re-election. They think Chandler needs to be significantly beating King in the money race and using his cash to explicitly tear King down in TV ads – which Chandler hasn’t been doing.
The races for treasurer and auditor, as I wrote following the filing of the last finance reports, appear to already be over.