Elicker Pulls In $117K

Justin Elicker raised over $117,000 from individual donors in the first three months of 2019 for his quest to unseat Mayor Toni Harp in this year’s elections, his campaign reported Monday.

The campaign made the announcement in a press release.

Detailed finance reports for the first quarter are due Wednesday at the city clerk’s office. (Neither Harp’s nor Elicker’s has yet arrived.)

The Elicker campaign did not release the names of its latest donors, Campaign Manager Gage Frank told the Independent those details are not yet ready for release.

Elicker has made campaign fundraising an issue in the race. He is participating in the Democracy Fund, which offers public financing in return for a pledge to forswear contributions from political action committees and to limit individual donations to $370 (rather than $1,000); Harp is not participating in the public-financing system. Elicker also sparked a state investigation into Harp’s 2017 campaign finance filings, which failed to account for the identities of donors responsible for nearly $100,000 in contributions. (Read more about that here.)

Elicker’s campaign reported that the first-quarter haul will amount to $165,000 when Democracy Fund money is added in.

Seven hundred thirty-seven different people made contributions in the first quarter, up from the 566 unique first-quarter donors to Elicker’s previous mayoral campaign in 2013, according to his campaign release. And the $117,000 more than doubled the $55,975 total he raised in that 2013 first quarter.

Harp’s report will probably come in at about “$26,000 and change” in money raised, according to campaign chair Jason Bartlett. He noted that fundraising took place only in the last month.

Elicker is running for the Democratic mayoral nomination; the primary takes place Sept. 10. Two other candidates — Urn Pendragon and Wendy Hamilton — have also filed papers to run for mayor. The general election takes place Nov. 5.