Paul Bass Photos
Justin Elicker, Karen DuBois-Walton on the second-quarter campaign trail.
$74,726.55 gone. $137,000 back in.
That replenishment-plus took place in Karen DuBois-Walton’s mayoral campaign coffers as she rebounded from having to return contributions raised earlier this year.
DuBois-Walton reported those new numbers Tuesday as she and the incumbent mayor she’s challenging for the Democratic mayoral nomination, Justin Elicker, released their campaign fundraising totals for the quarter that ended June 30.
Campaigns often present the best possible spin on fundraising reports to advance a picture of popular support.
The short take on the latest numbers: Both candidates have plenty of money to mount serious campaigns, including marketing materials and boots on the ground.
The numbers reported, according to releases distributed by their campaigns:
• Elicker’s campaign reported raising $103,978 in the three-month period from 705 individual donors, plus $43,176 in matching dollars from the agency that administers New Haven’s voluntary public-financing system, the Democracy Fund. Seven out of ten donors this quarter live in New Haven; 773 of 1,159 overall individual donors to date live in the city.
• DuBois-Walton reported pulling in “just over $137,000.” That reported figure combined individual donations from 764 different contributors plus $30,867 in grants and matching donations from the Democracy Fund. Average individual donation: $114; 41 percent were $30 or under. “Just under half” of contributors live in New Haven.
DuBois-Walton had had to return $74,726.55 left over from her pre-official-announcement “exploratory” phase campaign for mayor in order to continue participating in the Democracy Fund and qualify for matching dollars.
The spin: Both candidates say the outpouring of small donations demonstrates momentum as well as widespread grassroots support for their campaigns. Both also claimed “firsts” for candidates participating in the Democracy Fund:
• Besides trumpeting a higher percentage of city residents contributing, Elicker’s camp stated that it is “on track” to raise the maximum $368,000 allowed in a primary under the Fund’s rules, a “first in the Fund’s history.” He officially announced his candidacy months before DuBois-Walton, so he has had two reporting dates; once he receives an expected additional $18,500 in new Democracy Fund matches, the campaign projects having raised $288,883 to date.
• DuBois-Walton — for whose campaign this was the first fundraising quarter — heralded that the $137K haul represents “the most that any candidate has recorded in a quarter under the Democracy Fund, and the most contributions and most contributors ever reported in a quarter under the Democracy Fund.” Elicker campaign manager Kim Agyekum argued that when the Elicker camp’s Democracy Fund and individual-donation totals for the quarter are added together, the $147,154 total constitutes the Democracy Fund record.
The official reports detailing who donated how much money to whom are due to be filed with the state by July 10. Neither campaign released those reports Tuesday.