In the race for the lieutenant governor’s office, Democratic Rep. Kesha Ram, of Burlington, has raised the most money in contributions in the current reporting period, while her two primary opponents also pulled in a significant amount.
The contest is wide open because Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott is running for governor.
Ram reported raising $96,122 from 497 donors. Marlboro businessman Brandon Riker, a political newcomer, brought in $78,258 from 316 contributors. The reports cover the period from July through midnight Saturday. Riker also raised more than $102,000 in the previous period, when he was the only declared candidate.
Chittenden County Sen. David Zuckerman, who is also seeking the Democratic nod, brought in $64,535 from more than 1,055 donors.
The only announced Republican, Randy Brock, raised $30,892 from 199 contributors. His largest donation came John Moore, a Florida resident who put $2,000 into his account.
Zuckerman, who lost an appeal last week for public funding, said he was humbled.
“We are working hard to follow Sen. Bernie Sanders’ model of engaging many donors, bringing people together, and creating a people-powered campaign. It’s been an exciting few months,” Zuckerman said.
Louis Meyers, a Rutland doctor running for lieutenant governor as an independent, raised $2,925 from six contributors.
Garrett Graff, who had planned to run until his residency eligibility came into question, reported raising $1,600.
Candidates reported their contributions in several other statewide races, many of them uncontested so far.
The only person running yet for attorney general, Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan, reeled in $221,921 from 762 contributors. Ninety percent of his donations came from within Vermont, according to his campaign.
So far, Donovan has spent around $45,000 on various expenses, but he has not purchased any media time, leaving him plenty of cash on hand.
Donovan’s donors include many lawyers and law firms, as well as trade unions and politicians. He received $4,000 from the Vermont NEA, the state’s largest union, which endorsed him last week.
Ice cream magnates Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield also donated to Donovan, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter Welch’s congressional account gave $2,000.
In the 2014 attorney general’s election, longtime incumbent William Sorrell had raised just $26,100 by the March filing deadline. He isn’t running for re-election.
Donovan acknowledged his large haul Tuesday but promised the funds would not sway him in any way. He promised to establish “a litigation review panel that will issue public opinions on the qualifications and potential conflicts of any outside litigation contract entered into by the AG’s office.”
“I want to expressly acknowledge the reality of modern campaigning, which, unfortunately, requires increasingly large sums of money,” he said. “To be clear, I am committed to an independent, unbiased approach to fulfilling the duties of the attorney general.”
Sorrell has come under fire for taking campaign contributions from law firms that did business with the state.
A number of other uncontested statewide candidates had brought little money into the bank. Treasurer Beth Pearce reported that just 13 donors had supplied her coffers with $4,025, while Secretary of State Jim Condos reported 51 cents, the total interest his campaign account had accrued over the past two years.
Condos, like Pearce, a Democrat, said he would raise money later in the year depending on whether he faced opposition.
(Editor’s note: This story was corrected March 23, 2016, to include previous fundraising by Brandon Riker.)
