Allyson Schwartz ended 2013 as she started it: the slight front runner in a crowded Democratic primary for Governor.
But her average fundraising did not distinguish her from her opponents. The $4.63 million she has on hand after an expensive year puts her in the middle of the pack.
The Congresswoman brought in $2.99 million after declaring her bid for Governor in April. She also transferred $3.56 million from her congressional account for a total of $6.55 million in the door.
Businessman Tom Wolf, who contributed $10 million to his own campaign, has $11.8 million on hand and is already on broadcast television. State Treasurer Rob McCord, who loaned himself $1.7 million, has $6.1 million on hand.
Former Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty has $1.8 million on hand. Former DEP Sec. John Hanger has $839,000.
Schwartz’s campaign finance report recently became available from the Pa. Department of State.
The best news for her campaign is that Schwartz has a long list of donors. Overall she had more individual donors than any other Democratic candidate and perhaps even more than Tom Corbett. Most importantly many of these contributors gave between $500-$2,500, which means they are more likely to be willing to give to the campaign again.
That doesn’t mean the Congresswoman still didn’t have some big donors. Noted financier Donald Sussman gave her $100,000. She also received hefty checks from supporters like IBEW 98 ($150K) and Emily’s List ($142K) and pulled in money from several congressional colleagues. She also received a check from her former state Senate colleague Jay Costa for $1,500.
What stands out most from Schwartz’s 2013 financial report is not how much she brought in but how much went out.
The Schwartz campaign spent a total of $1,924,286 in 2013, 64% of what the campaign raised after her gubernatorial announcement.* The biggest expense was salaries: $743,000 since the campaign began in April.
Tom Wolf’s campaign came closest to this number with $300K on staff.
Schwartz’s campaign spent over $100,000 each on direct mail and online ads, plus hundreds of thousands on consultants.
The Benenson Strategy Group, got $163K for polling. Tightline Strategies got $116K for general consulting. The Dixon/Davis Media Group got $88.5K for consulting and production. Ohlsen Research got $25K for opposition research.
*A caveat: her congressional campaign raised $416K in the first quarter of 2013 when many donors likely knew her plans to run for Governor. If those contributions are counted with her Pa-Gov haul, Schwartz spent 56% of what she raised.
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11 Responses
She spent $1.9 million in the year before the election? Maybe she spent it on a website. Maybe as a big supporter of Obamacare she knows how to spend people’s money.
Rob mccord has been treasure 7 years and im just finding out he is not irish he is actually Jewish.i wonder if corbett is jewish to.
There is another “Ron” commenting on these pages. Just to distinguish, hope no one confuses his comments with mine. I suppose I can change my sign in name? —The original Ron.
Frank,
McCord is Jewish. His mom got remarried when he was a kid. So, I’m not sure, but I think McCord was the name of her second husband.
But, you go right on worrying about white Irish guys.
It may be time for a woman governor but Schwartz is not the right woman. Republicans are salivating at the chance to run against her in November. I’m sure they already have their Planned Parenthood pro-abortion ads already written. Her ties to PP might play in Philly but they won’t in the rest of a far more conservative Western PA, even among Democrats. Corbett over Schwartz in November if she’s our nominee.
david i would take that bet anyday mccord is just another irish white guy running for office.schwartz has the most individual donors and she did not have to give herself 1.7 million dollars like mccord this guys been are treasure for 7 years and every time i ask anybody about him they have no clue who he is.its gonna be tough for any of them to offset schwartz lead coming out of philly.i will say it again its time for a woman governor.
Frank-
What ground game? Do you mean like that video-house party fiasco?
McCord beats Schwartz. Not predicting him first, just that he beats Schwartz.
Her ground game is the best out of all them running she has the most volunteers also.that said it will be funny in may when do nothing mccord comes in third.i can see myself voting for wolf at least i know he wont need to steal any money.
Jackb1977-
I wonder if the polling data told her she was coming in third in the Primary?
I didn’t spend a nickel to come up with that, either. Just reading some tea leaves. 🙂
Any polling data she did, didn’t take into account how well Wolf’s ad buy has gone over. #pollfail
Schwartz has a huge burn rate and the $ going to the consultants is pretty high. The polling cost is huge, but the campaign will have some pretty accurate data from it. That will help with messaging and targeting.
If I was a betting man I would say that Schwartz will be forced to go negative first. With Wolf on TV already his positive name id will start going up. She will view this as a threat and act accordingly.
Doesn’t look like she got a lot of bang-for-the-buck.
She’s no farther ahead in polls (and likely behind) where she was six-months ago, as she failed to deter the other candidates from entering the race. In the coverage of the debates, I’ve seen few cases of her being declared winner or strong debater.
But, that seems like a lot in salaries for 9 months.