Democrat keeps up fundraising advantage in secretary of state’s race

Beau Bayh is pulling off that rarest of feats for statewide Democratic candidates in Indiana — outraise and outspend the Republicans.

Campaign finance reports filed Thursday by the secretary of state candidates show that Bayh spent $3.9 million during the July-September period.

That’s more than double the $1.6 million spent by Republican candidate Max Engling’s campaign.

Bayh, the son of former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, put that money to use by starting widespread television advertising in August, a full month ahead of Republicans ads for Engling.

The campaign reports show Beau Bayh spent $3.3 million with an advertising firm in August and September for TV and digital ads. Republicans countered with $1.3 million for Engling, with most of that paid for by the state GOP organization.

The Bayh and Engling campaigns did not immediately reply to questions from the Indiana Capital Chronicle about their fundraising and spending plans ahead of the Nov. 3 Election Day.

The reports show that during the three-month span ending Sept. 30:

• Bayh raised $2 million and ended with about $394,000 in cash. His campaign has since reported raising $1.95 million in contributions topping $1,000, including $1.5 million from the state Democratic Party.
• Engling collected $1.85 million and ended with about $422,000 in the bank. His campaign has since added about $700,000 in large contributions, including nearly $600,000 from the state GOP.
• Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard raised $435,000, spent $182,000 and ended with $278,000 in cash. He’s since reported $11,000 in large contributions.
• Libertarian Lauri Shillings raised about $30,000, spent $21,000 and had $16,000 in cash.

Federal Election Commission reports show that Evan Bayh’s dormant U.S. Senate campaign fund transferred $700,000 to a federal campaign committee operated by state Democrats called the Indiana Democratic Congressional Victory Committee.

That left the Evan Bayh Committee with about $1.5 million as of Sept. 30.

Big money stirs up squabbles in Indiana secretary of state’s race

The Engling campaign claimed Thursday that state Democrats took that money and “then passed it to Beau’s campaign. The campaign expects that number to rise to about $2.3 million after further public disclosures.”

Bayh campaign manager Jack Tormoehlen wrote in an email that “we are grateful for all the ongoing support we’ve received from all 92 counties as we raise the resources needed to wage a winning statewide campaign.”

Ballard, the former Republican mayor of Indianapolis, lamented Thursday that collecting some 70,000 petition signatures to put his name on the statewide ballot cost his campaign more than $800,000 last spring — money that Republicans and Democrats didn’t have to spend.

“We’re on TV statewide right now,” Ballard said. “We’d like to have more ad buys, obviously, throughout the rest of the state. But they’ve been on TV for a while now because they’ve got a foundation behind it. The law is on their side. The history is on their side.”