The record-breaking spending continued in the Vermont statewide races Friday, including the closely contested race for governor, where Democrat Sue Minter reported pulling in another $384,000 into her campaign coffers in the last several weeks, bringing her total campaign haul to just shy of $2 million.
Her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, reported raising $208,000 since Oct. 15th, bringing his campaign contributions to date to almost $1.5 million.
Minter reported spending $384,000 on television advertising and mass media since the last report in mid-October. The Minter campaign has about $70,000 left in the bank.
Scott spent almost $250,000 on television advertising and other mass media during that same time. According to his report filed with the Vermont Secretary of State, including a carryover from a previous campaign, Team Scott has about $10,000 left.
One poll by Vermont Public Radio had the race a dead heat. A poll by WCAX-TV a week later put Scott ahead.
Total spending in the governor’s race has now exceeded the $10 million mark, about three times what was spent the last time there was a vacancy in the top job, in 2010, when Gov. Peter Shumlin won against Brian Dubie. Those two spent almost $3 million combined.
In addition to the candidates, the record spending this year includes millions spent by outside groups, including the Republican and Democratic Governors Association and other political action committees.
A large chunk of this year’s spending was because two candidates, Republican Bruce Lisman and Democrat Peter Galbraith, spent large personal sums in losing primary bids. In this last round of reports before Election Day, Lisman reported he gave the campaign another $6,500, bringing the total he spent in a losing effort to Scott in the primary to $1.9 million.
Advertising alone is expected to cost more than $6 million, a record.
In the lieutenant governor’s race, Progressive/Democrat David Zuckerman continued to raise more money than his opponent Randy Brock in the final weeks of the race for the number two position.
Zuckerman raised $71,000 in the last two weeks of October and early November, bringing his total to $326,000 for the campaign. That’s almost twice the amount raised by Brock, the Republican, who took in $18,000 this month for a total of $177,000.
Both candidates have approximately $25,000 each left in their campaign coffers.
Zuckerman, a state senator, reported spending $39,000 on television advertisements and other mass media. Brock, a former state senator and one-term state auditor, spent about $31,000 on media buys.
Polls have shown Zuckerman with a double-digit lead.
In the attorney general’s race, TJ Donovan raised $14,000 in the last reporting period, totalling more than $400,000 for the campaign. The Democrat, who is the Chittenden County state’s attorney, spent $78,000 on television and other mass media and has spent a total of almost $270,000 on the race, leaving him a potential surplus after Election Day.
Donovan’s opponent, Republican Deborah Bucknam, on the other hand, has run a deficit. She has raised a total of $84,000 during the campaign, including a $25,000 loan she made in October. Her total spending for the race is $138,000, according to reports filed with the Vermont Secretary of State. That includes almost $80,000 in mass media purchases.
