Candidates in next Tuesday’s special election to fill two open D.C. Council seats have collectively raised over $1 million in the course of the campaign. Voters will chose council members for Wards 4 and 7, after those positions were left empty by Mayor Adrian Fenty and at-large Council Chairman Vincent Gray. Voters in D.C. Public Schools’ Second District will also elect a school board representative.
In Ward 4, ANC Commissioner Muriel Bowser leads the pack of 19 candidates, with $371,000, while Michael Brown has gotten over $183,000 in contributions. Among the 17 Ward 7 candidates, Yvette Alexander has raised over $178,000, with Victor Vandell in second $79,000 in his war chest.
Contenders are required to submit fund-raising reports to D.C.’s Office of Campaign Finance eight days before election day. The financial statements from all candidates are now availableon-line.
We perused these hundred-page documents so you don’t have to. Among the notable groups contributing the $500 maximum to Brown are hotel and carpenter PACs, Capital Auto Truck Auction, and Baltimore Orioles owner and noted Nationals opponent, Peter Angelos. Bowser counts SEIU, Philadelphia Joint Board Unite, restaurant, insurance and realtor PACs among her supporters along with the Ethio-American Cab Owners Association.
Over in Ward 7 Alexander nabbed cash from Pfizer and D.C. auto dealers’ PACs, with Consolidated Waste Industries and Ahold, owner of Giant Food also pitching in the maximum.Vandell, with the smallest war chest among the four richest campaigns, has money from several realty and property management groups.
District voters pick two new council members among the 36 candidates on May 1.
Photo by Flickr user zeul.
