The money race is off and running

Happy Monday! Today we continue part 7 of the series, “Betz Farm: The Early Years.”

Ha! Just yankin’ your early week chain. Nah, we’re looking at something much more basic and timelier:

Campaign money.

I’ve been writing about campaign money for more than a day or two, and the story never changes. Voters want to know how much candidates are getting, from whom, and how they are spending it.

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We tend to gaze deeply at these reports, looking for the Hidden Meaning. You know, proof that candidates are bolstered by special-interest groups.

This year, perhaps more than ever, expect voters to scrutinize where candidates are getting their support. This is a real dividing line election, folks. With no sales tax referendum on the ballot, the best chance we have to decide the county’s direction is in County Commission Districts 2 and 4.

Even though ballot qualifying is still two months away, and anything can happen, if this is the slate, we’re in good shape. Each race has two strong incumbents (District 2, Diana Finegan; District 4, Rebecca Bays) with extremely worthy challengers (District 2, Stacey Worthington; District 4, Holli Herndon).

So, let’s ramble a little about campaign funds:

— First up, the education part. At the Supervisor of Elections website, you'll find candidates and their reports. It’s super easy to read and comprehend.

— The most recent candidate finance report, which covered the first quarter of 2026, came out April 10. The next one is due June 10, then after that it’s every Friday until the primary.

— Candidates must report every dollar collected and identify the donor. If the donation is $100 or more, it needs to include the person’s occupation. The max per donor is $1,000 per election cycle (primary is one cycle, general election is another cycle). Some businesses total more, but they’re in individual $1,000 donations.

— Every dollar spent must be accounted for as well. The spending rules are quite broad. Basically, anything a candidate says he/she needs for the campaign is eligible. 

— I look to see how candidates are spending early on. Are they nickel-and-diming each expense, or are they storing funds for later on? Every decent campaign adviser warns about the pitfalls of a bank account nearing empty during the campaign’s final weeks.

— I also look at the number of donors. I started this when the late Phil Royal ran for sheriff, and I noticed that he was outdistancing his competitors in the number of donors by a wide margin. Those may be $5 ice cream socials, but they spell grassroots support and votes.

OK, so, with all that…

— All four County Commission candidates are doing great out of the gate. Three of them — Bays, Finegan, and Worthington — are running for a second time, so I compared where they are at this stage with four years ago at the same time. 

Something in District 2 jumped out. Finegan is on the same pace. She's collected $30,120, about the same as four years ago.

Worthington, however, collected $51,360 after tallying just $17,835 this time four years ago. That is a huge swing and suggests Stacey has significantly broadened her support.

Of the thousand-dollar donors, Finegan has 20 and Worthington, 26. Total donors, all amounts: Finegan, 131; Worthington, 181. Hmmm. Keep an eye on that one.

— The three candidates mentioned are all getting support from the county’s heavy hitters — business owners, development interests, and community leaders. Some of these business owners donated to all three.

It's easy to reach conclusions about candidates based on their contributors. I'm not necessarily discouraging that. However, voters with questions about campaign contributions should ask the candidates themselves.

As for me, I'm impressed with the number of contributors all the candidates have. Those are citizens participating in the process in a most personal way. It thrills me to see the tremendous interest across the board in this election.

— Bays has $57,900 in collections from 97 donors. She has 25 donors in the $1,000 club. Interestingly, she loaned her campaign $15,000. Candidates loaning to boost their own campaigns isn’t unusual (Herndon and Worthington both did), but you don't see it from an incumbent that often.

— At $8,801 in collections, Herndon is on the low end, as one would expect. She’s not a big name; in fact, that’s her biggest challenge at the moment. One bit of optimism for her, though, is the number of donors: 136. That suggests Herndon is getting traction with voters, which she’ll need as Bays keeps pulling in the big donors.

Campaign funds tell only a part of the election story. Dollars don’t always equal votes, but they’re a great indicator of support…or lack thereof.

That’s it for today. Have an awesome Monday, friends.

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