The money race – State Reps

Now that most of the finance reports have been filed and posted for state candidates, let’s take a look at some of the State Rep races in Harris County:

Dist   Candidate   Contrib   Expense  Tot Cash
==============================================
126       C Khan     9,146    17,251    13,676
126    P Harless    64,025   121,701    34,829
127   D Trautman    11,048     6,597     1,684
127      J Crabb    29,600    68,326    76,858
129     S Matula     8,043     3,845     7,081
129      J Davis    16,900    26,364    17,394
133    K Thibaut   130,097    17,969   100,148
133     J Murphy    50,160    61,189     1,253
134      E Cohen   213,324   114,157   215,937
134       M Wong    98,893    49,655   428,429
137   S Hochberg    81,464    12,823    74,390
137     S Spivey     8,352     3,816     4,458
138    M McDavid    15,956    10,297     3,413
138      D Bohac    14,800    28,340         0
143  A Hernandez     7,701    22,353    30,441
143      D Olmos         0     2,421    15,000
149         H Vo    47,155    34,219    16,144
149     T Heflin     9,440    13,073     6,061

Chad Khan has loaned his campaign $97K, and he’s in a position to do more of that. He’ll have whatever funds he needs to run that race. I presume Patricia Harless spent all that money in her primary race against John Devine.

Joe Crabb, who has all of his money in a PAC, and Jim Murphy also presumably spent their wads on primaries; in Murphy’s case, he had a runoff to win as well. I confess, I’m a little surprised that he apparently hasn’t done anything in the interim to replenish his kitty. Kristi Thibaut can’t be too unhappy about that.

One more quarter like this one and Ellen Cohen will essentially wipe out Martha Wong‘s cash advantage, which is courtesy of not having to campaign too hard in 2004.

Dwayne Bohac‘s goose egg in the Cash on Hand department is a bit of a mystery to me. Is he waiting for Bob Perry to swoop in and drop a six-figure check on him?

Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents aren’t doing to impressively. Dorothy Olmos, who raised no money at all, gets that $15K from a loan to herself. Nothing wrong with writing yourself a check, but one is usually taken more seriously if one collects at least a few pennies from other people. Sylvia Spivey is outgunned even before you take into account Scott Hochberg’s work ethic on the campaign trail. And pity poor Talmadge Heflin. Sure does stink to not be the Appropriations chair any more, doesn’t it? I’m willing to bet that Hubert Vo will have a sizable lead in CoH by the time the September reports get filed.

I’ll probably take a look at some other races around the state later. BOR has already covered Travis County for me. Click the More link to see an article by Capitol Inside with other reports of interest.

Ben Bentzin hasn’t found a way yet to win a seat in the Legislature as a Republican in the state’s least conservative big city. But the Austin high-tech executive may break every state House fundraising record in sight while trying if he stays in the House District 48 race with the goal of winning. Unless State Rep. Patrick Rose passes him first and shatters the records himself as it appears he might do based on a torrid pace he’s setting in his second bid for re-election as a 27-year-old Democrat in a district that leans Republican.

While Rose has raised more than $611,000 during the past year, Bentzin had filled his war chest with more than $837,000 by February in his bid for an open state House seat before State Rep. Donna Howard beat him with room to spare in a special election runoff on Valentine’s Day. For comparative sake, former Republican House members Todd Baxter and Jack Stick had war chests of $978,000 and $890,000 respectively for their re-election bids as the top two fundraisers in the competition for Texas House seats two years ago. Bentzin has already surpassed the fundraising marks that Democratic State Reps. Mark Strama of Austin and Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs set when finishing third and fourth in the battle for bucks in races for the lower chamber in 2004.

But as Democrats and Republicans wait to see if Bentzin will roar back from a long spring hiatus and go all out in round three against Howard, his latest campaign finance report at the Texas Ethics Commission is more likely to fuel a perception that he might be more in the mood to cut his losses than pour ,more money into a race he was favored to win at the outset.

Since losing the special election for the seat that Baxter gave up last year, Bentzin has only raised only $35,000 as the Republican nominee for HD 48 with more than half of that coming in a $20,000 check from Houston home builder Bob Perry in May. On June 30, Bentzin had only $20.33 in the campaign bank.

Riding momentum from the special election and a newfound incumbency, Howard raised about $65,000 from contributors between the special election and the end of last month and entered the final four months of the fall campaign with a similar amount of cash on hand. While Bentzin has had more than twice as much to spend on the race, Howard closed out the first half of 2006 with 3,183 times more in campaign cash reserves than her Republican rival did on June 30.

Despite speculation that the GOP nominee might step aside and allow Republicans to make a bid to replace him on the fall ballot, Bentzin has money of his own that major donors like Perry could match for a November election that will revolve on a different set of dynamics that the special election early this year.

The battle for HD 48 in one of the state’s few remaining swing districts has been the most expensive state House race so far in Texas this year after having the second highest price tag in House races when Baxter barely survived a challenge from Democrat Kelly White as they raised $1.6 million combined in 2004. Having already eclipsed $1.25 million in combined fundraising, Howard and Bentzin appear to be on track to spend more than the HD 48 candidates did the last time the seat was up for grabs.

In the battle for individual fundraising honors, Rose appears destined to have more for his race this fall against retired business and former San Marcos school board president Jim Neuhaus than he had with a war chest of $840,000 against a Republican foe who had substantial family money to spend two years ago. While Neuhaus might get some help from Republicans in Austin, he’ll be lucky to have a fraction of the funds that Rose takes into the fall competition barring a winning lottery ticket. Neuhaus’ report like some others had not been posted by the close of business on Monday.

The new wave of reports show the two most successful fundraisers during the past six months to be a pair of Democratic challengers competing for seats held by Republicans in Houston and Corpus Christi. Ellen Cohen, who raises money for a living in her role running a non-profit center that battles domestic abuse and sexual violence, is reporting contributions of $212,000 between January 1 and June 30 after taking in more during that time than any House candidate other than Bentzin among those whose reports have been posted. Cohen has raised almost as much money as Howard and won’t face her first opposition until she and Republican State Rep. Martha Wong meet in the general election. South Texas attorney Juan M. Garcia was next with donations topping $205,000 during the period that ended June 30.

While Cohen has raised $110,000 more than Wong for their battle in the past year, the Republican incumbent and former Houston city councilwoman has a massive cash surplus of more than $428,000 heading into the general election campaign. Garcia is in better position against State Rep. Gene Seaman, a Corpus Christi Republican who reported donations of $90,000 during the first half of the year and almost $265,000 in cash on hand at the end of last month.

Dallas attorney Harriet Miller, who’s also challenging a Republican incumbent, was among the fundraising leaders during the first six months of 2006 with contributions of almost $116,000 for a rematch with veteran State Rep. Tony Goolsby. Miller has taken in more than $188,000 for her campaign for HD 102 while Goolsby has raised about $82,000 with half of that in the first half of the year. Like Wong, Seaman and other incumbents, Goolsby has an imposing amount of cash socked away for the general election with more than $281,000 in the bank on June 30.

At least nine House candidates have already raised more than $200,000 for this year’s campaigns. Democratic State Rep. Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville and Republican House candidate Bill Welch of Austin are members of that list and Republican State Rep. Kirk England of Grand Prairie is within a few thousand dollars of adding his name to it as well. Reports have not been posted at this point for the general election opponents that Hopson, Welch and England will face this fall.

While some candidates trumpeted the financial support they’d received, others such as former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Talmadge Heflin, did not have as much to gloat about when submitting lists of campaign donations and expenditures to the state. Heflin, who hopes to wrestle his west Houston House seat back in a rematch with Democratic State Rep. Hubert Vo, reported raising only $9,440 during the past six months and ended the period with only $6,000 in the bank. But while Vo raised four times more than Heflin during the first half of the year, the Houston Democrat only has $10,000 more in cash on hand going into the final four months of this year’s battle with Heflin. Heflin unsuccessfully challenged Vo’s 33-vote victory two years ago and has used some of $42,000 he’s raised during the past 12 months to pay for legal fees stemming from the fight over the election results.

TOP TEXAS HOUSE FUNDRAISERS 2006

Ben Bentzin (R)
Austin – HD 48
$342,163
$872,210
Patrick Rose (D-Inc)
Dripping Springs – HD 45
$184,195
$611,335
Donna Howard (D-Inc)
Austin – HD 48
$71,428
$373,768
Ellen Cohen (D)
Houston – HD 134
$212,238
$372,238
Bill Welch (R)
Austin – HD 47
$61,843
$277,239
Gene Seaman (R-Inc)
Corpus Christi – HD 32
$89,956
$264,897
Martha Wong (R-Inc)
Houston – HD 134
$98,893
$262,044
Chuck Hopson (D-Inc)
Jacksonville – HD 11
$83,200
$230,440
Patricia Harless (R)
Houston – HD 126
$64,025
$216,505
Juan Garcia (D)
Corpus Christi – HD 32
$205,640
$205,640
Kirk England (R-Inc)
Dallas – HD 106
$93,330
$193,968
Harriet Miller (D)
Dallas – HD 102
$115,877
$188,404
Dora Olivo (D-Inc)
Richmond – HD 27
$70,204
$187,297
Kristi Thibaut (D)
Houston – HD 133
$130,595
$130,595
Tony Goolsby (R-Inc)
Dallas – HD 102
$43,287
$81,919
Hubert Vo (D-Inc)
Houston – HD 149
$47,155
$50.787
Talmadge Heflin (R)
Houston – HD 149
$9,440
$42,440

CASH ON HAND IN THE BANK

ND 6/30

Patrick Rose (D-Inc)
Dripping Springs – HD 45
$611,335
$528,328
Martha Wong (R-Inc)
Houston – HD 134
$262,044
$428,429
Tony Goolsby (R-Inc)
Dallas – HD 102
$81,919
$281,194
Gene Seaman (R-Inc)
Corpus Christi – HD 32
$264,897
$261,671
Ellen Cohen (D)
Houston – HD 134
$372,238
$215,937
Chuck Hopson (D-Inc)
Jacksonville – HD 11
$230,440
$195,135
Kristi Thibaut (D)
Houston – HD 133
$130,595
$100,148

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