As primary election approaches, Miller campaign takes out four more self-funded loans

As the primary election quickly approaches Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Miller is betting big on ad buys, taking out four new self-funded loans for his campaign throughout the month of April to cover the costs, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday.

Despite collecting about $68,000 in contributions in April, Miller spent nearly $2.9 million over the month’s 30 days, which is the period covered by the final campaign finance reports filed before the primary.

Miller, a businessman and son of U.S. Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., self-financed four loans to his campaign — on April 10, April 16, April 23 and April 26 — totalling $2.1 million. Those, on top of the five loans he had previously furnished for the primary race, brings the total for his campaign’s loan debt to $5.15 million.

According to campaign finance reports, Miller — who has nearly $520,000 cash-on-hand — spent a bulk of his campaign funds in April on 11 different media buys, totaling $2.24 million.

That’s nearly double the total expenditures spent through the month by all other candidates in the race.

According to a MetroNews poll released Friday, Miller is neck-and-neck with former state lawmaker Moore Capito in the governor’s race, with 25% of likely Republican voters saying they’d vote for him compared to 24% for Capito.

Both candidates, however, are trailing behind Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who got 32% of voters in the poll.

Morrisey, according to campaign finance reports, has vastly outraised Miller and Capito in the primary race, with $3.6 million in total contributions to date compared to their $1.6 million and $2.1 million raised respectively. To date, he has about $695,000 cash-on-hand, also more than the other candidates.

Miller, however, has spent more money than any other candidate through the primary race, with a total $6.12 million in expenditures. Morrisey is the second-highest spender but still far behind Miller, spending about $3.1 million on the race to date.

Over the last month, Morrisey raised about $296,000 while spending nearly $1.28 million, with a majority of that spending ($1.13 million) going toward media buys. According to the report, the Morrisey campaign solicited four total ads throughout April, about one per a week.

Capito, per the filings, collected about $169,000 in contributions over April while spending $642,000. A majority of his campaign spending for that period went to consultant fees totalling $582,000. The second highest expenditure was nearly $20,000 in returned contributions.

Rounding out the Republican primary race for governor is current Secretary of State Mac Warner, who in last week’s poll is predicted to earn about 10% of the vote. Warner has both collected and spent the least amount of money of any candidate to date, with about $546,000 in contributions and $379,000 in expenditures.

Over April, Warner’s campaign brought in nearly $36,000 while spending almost $60,000. The campaign’s highest expenditure was $31,000 for three ad buys: two to Morgantown-based WVRC Media and another to a company in Oklahoma.

The primary election is on Tuesday, May 14. Polls are currently open for early voting, and will remain open until Saturday, May 11. Visit the West Virginia Secretary of State’s website to find your polling location.