The results spell either trouble or good fortune for the Democrat who emerges from Sept. 19th as the party nominee to challenge Matt Kinnaman, the only Republican in the race:
Overall, and again discounting ALL candidate loans, the four competitive Democrats (leaving out Zelazo) have raised a combined $114,639.00. The lone Republican has raised a total of about $47,000 with a little more than $27,000.00 remaining as of Sept. 1, the date of the filing.
If Democratic contributors have been especially compelled to invest more money in their personal favorite during the partisan primary campaign, this might mean overall that contributors whose candidate lost won’t be willing to donate as much or anything at all to the Democrat who did win and who beat their own candidate. This would leave the Democratic nominee in an even more challenging atmosphere as many political observers expect the state Republican party to put everything it can into Kinnaman’s campaign; the GOP knows open senate seats are rare and this seat in particular was in the past held by prominent Republicans for long periods of time, including Jane Swift just prior to her stint as Lt. Governor.
As well, the local Democratic veterans, donors, and organizations have their energies and time divided and spread throughout MANY different campaigns commitments; the Berkshire County Republican Association, on the other hand, has the ability to focus its entire organization and time on supporting Kinnaman, with no other GOPers running for major office in the district and with Healey efforts not a serious or beneficial endeavor in this part of the state.
However, things don’t necessarily have to be so bleak. If all Democratic candidates keeping a reserve of primary cash in their accounts with the expectation of winning–but who then lose–would donate the maximum amount from their accounts to the winner’s account, things would look better. As well, if all the losing Democrats would pledge to support the winner and further pledge to help fundraise for the winner, and unity be achieved, the future would look a bit more promising.
(Disclosure: This blogger supports Margie Ware for state senate.)
