Campaign finance reports: Morrisey leads in money raised since January for governor

Media buys, consultant fees and campaign mailers topped off the list of expenditures over the last few months for the four Republicans vying to be West Virginia’s next governor, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.

The campaign finance reports will be the last filed before the competitive May primary, where voters will choose who will continue on to the general election against the only Democrat running, current Huntington Mayor Steve Williams. Williams, according to filings, has about $21,000 able to be spent and is not running a competitive primary election race, unlike the Republicans.

Current Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has the most money in the bank, with nearly $1.7 million available to spend and a total of more than $3.3 million contributed to his campaign to date. From Jan. 1 through March 31 — the period covered in the most recent campaign filings — Morrisey raised about $876,400 while spending more than $1 million. 

That’s the most brought in for the quarter by any candidate for governor.

Morrisey’s highest expenditure came at about $675,000 for six different ad buys. His second highest was a $147,000 transfer to Team Morrisey, a joint fundraising committee composed of several of his previous political committees, a political action committee and the Upshur County Republican Executive Committee.

Car salesman Chris Miller, the son of sitting U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., has the second highest amount of cash on hand, with about $1.2 million available to spend and a total of $1.5 million contributed to the campaign by voters since its start. 

In the last quarter, Miller has collected about $216,000 for his campaign despite spending, over that same time, more than $2.7 million. That’s the most spent by any of the candidates for this quarter.

According to the filings, Miller has loaned himself nearly $3.1 million for his campaign, with the most recent loan coming in on March 29 and totalling $50,000.

By far, a majority of Miller’s spending over the last three months — about $2.3 million in 17 separate expenditures — has gone toward ad buys, which is more than the three other leading candidates combined spent on that purpose.

Miller’s ads have been released regularly, often centering on culture war issues with a repeated focus on transphobic rhetoric.

Moore Capito, son of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. and a former state lawmaker who resigned last year to focus on his gubernatorial campaign, has about $1.1 million ready to spend. To date, he’s collected nearly $2 million in voter contributions.

Over the last three months, Capito’s campaign has made about $337,000 in contributions while spending about $455,000 over the same time. His largest expenditure was on consulting fees, which totalled $309,000 to seven different consultants in 14 separate expenditures.

Capito, by a wide margin, spent the least amount of money on media, advertising and campaign materials than any of the other three candidates. According to the filings, Capito paid $1,500 for one newspaper advertisement and about $1,505 in 12 small expenditures for various “campaign materials” at several retailers since Jan. 1.

Rounding out the Republican race for governor is current Secretary of State Mac Warner, who has, by far, the least amount of money collected, spent or on hand to spend than any of the other three candidates at this time.

Per the filings, Warner has about $193,000 to spend, having collected almost $524,000 in contributions since his campaign began.

In the last quarter, Warner’s campaign received nearly $73,000 from voters while spending a little more than $43,000. His largest campaign expenditures so far this year went toward campaign materials (around $9,200), web services ($8,500) and campaign payroll ($7,500 to three individuals).

Republicans for all statewide races — governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state auditor and commissioner of agriculture — have vastly outraised their Democratic counterparts both overall and for this quarter, which is expected given the lack of competitive races Democrats will be participating in come May.

The primary election will be held on Tuesday, May 14. For more information on candidates running, their finances or how to vote, visit the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website.