The 30-Day General Election Finance Reports

Yes, there’s news right off the bat.  So much so that I think I may keep this first item at the top when I go through the rest of the reports.  The news?  The D’s are really serious about Senate District 15, currently held by the (finally) retiring Dave Lawson.  The D candidate, Nisha Lodhavia, has raised over $100 K, and has spent $32 K, giving her a massive war chest to use until the election.  She has tapped into a huge donor base in the Indian-American community, and has very strong support from the Senate and the usual Democratic suspects.  Mostly the Democratic Delaware Way suspects, but still…

The deadline for raising money was midnight, October 4.  The deadline for filing your report is midnight, tomorrow night.  It’s clear that the campaign of Nisha Lodhavia wanted this report out ASAP.  

Here we go with our Wednesday updates, lots of ’em:

Some reports just depress me.  Take that of Rep. Tim Dukes, for example.  Virtually all of the $9K he’s raised this year comes from PACs’.

Perhaps Ayanna Khan-Flowers isn’t so bad after all.  Perhaps she is.  However, when her contributors include Madinah Wilson-Anton, Dave Carter, and Kevin Caneco, I’m at least willing to take notice.

Calling Almost All Democratic Officeholders:  Only Dave Redlawsk (who’s not yet in office) and Laura Sturgeon have contributed to the campaign of Alex Green, who is running against the incoming Delaware Chamber of Commerce President in RD 22.  That is, what’s the word I’m looking for, pathetic.  Seriously, what’s wrong with y’all?  Don’t want to offend the Chamber?  Then you, like Michael Smith, don’t belong in Dover.  Contribute to his campaign and, if you don’t have an opponent and you live in New Castle County, get off your butts and knock some doors for him.  This is a test.  We’ll know by the time the 8-day reports come out whether you passed it.

I’d been hearing that ex-cop Gary Taylor represented an existential threat to incumbent D Rep. Rae Moore in RD 8.  You wouldn’t know it by his campaign finance report.  He’s raised about $15K this year, and has spent only about $3700.  $600 of which, BTW, came from the newly-minted President of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, Mike Smith.  I mean, it doesn’t suck, but I would’ve expected the Rethug heavy-hitters to go all-in here if they saw a chance for a win.

Perhaps Taylor is an existential threat to Rae Moore.  Or, to be more precise, perhaps the Mean Girls Caucus has it in for her.  Mimi, Kerri, and Kim. Conspicuous by their absence from Moore’s relatively-paltry campaign finance report are donations from the two Caucus PACs, and any contributions from members of the caucus.  I don’t care if Moore sucks as a representative (which I don’t know is the case), I don’t care how pissed off Kim is that Moore exposed her opposition to school lunches.  If you’re trying to get to a super-majority, you don’t hang one of your own out to dry.  And I don’t buy any ‘ethics’ shit when Speaker Mimi has been a triple-dipper.  Moore started out the year with $4500 and raised only $800 this year.  That doesn’t happen to an incumbent unless certain power brokers, including the Speaker, have sent out the word.  Let’s see which caucus members step up before the 8-day reports come out.  I’ll be naming names.

Yep, Mike Smith’s campaign finance report is full of clients he will be representing if he’s reelected while also serving as the President of the Delaware State Chamber Of Commerce.  Started the year with $84K already banked, and raised another $34K.  His most recent benefactors, or is it malefactors(?), include the ABC Merit Shop PAC, Agent PAC of Delaware, CDI Consulting Services PAC out of Baltimore, DE Alcoholic Beverages Wholesalers Association, Delaware Bankers Association, the conservative Delaware Foundation For Legislative Action, Delaware Healthcare Association PAC, Delaware Restaurant Association PAC, Delaware CAN PAC, EI Dupont de Nemours, Highmark PAC, Johnson & Johnson PAC, NKS Distributors, and Walgreen’s.  If you research his previous campaign finance reports, you will see that he is even more hopelessly compromised.

I know that candidates can spend their money on pretty much anything.  For example, Kerri Evelyn Harris spent $664.99 at a hotel in San Diego and $339.78 at a hotel in Drexel Hill, PA.  Not a single penny to any incumbents or challengers. This, despite starting out the post-primary period with over $48K in the bank, and having over $21K available to her after the 30-day report. Hope the Caucus keeps that in mind when they’re considering leadership slots.

Shay Frisby has raised almost $10K since her primary win over, what was that loser’s name again?…Doesn’t matter.  Neither does the candidacy of Brent Burdge.

Maureen ‘Mo’ Madden has quite an impressive campaign finance report.  Started the year with over $31K in the bank and raised another $36K.  She is running in RD 38 against political newcomer Carlie Carey.  Sussex Spies:  Does Maureen have a shot?

I’ll ask the same question about D Ryan Stuckey, who is running against Suxco’s Resident Bad Boy John Atkins.  Stuckey’s raised a respectable $18K.  My question to Sussex Spies here is:  Are there enough bad feelings left over from the Republican primary to give Stuckey a puncher’s chance?

Shout Out To The New Castle County Democratic Committee:  They gave out generous contributions to Alex Green, David Redlawsk, Kira Alejandro, Pam Salaam, Shay Frisby, and Tori Parker.  Parker is running against Jeff Spiegelman.

Looks like Claire Snyder-Hall is in the camp of Kim Williams.  Gave Williams $1200 that she doesn’t need.  I bring this up b/c the noxious Williams is rumored to be seeking the Speakership.  That would be a disaster.   Our PAL Val Version 2.0.

Here are  our Tuesday updates:

Steve Pickering, the R running against Krista Griffith, raised about $18K, in addition to $4800 he already had.  Were I a Rethug, and were I prone to nostalgia, I’d look at his donor list and start humming “The Way We Were”.  To quote  Chad & Jeremy, ‘But that was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone’.  (If you skip my Easter eggs, you’re missing a lot.)

Gerald Hocker is coasting through this election.  Had $21K on January 1, and raised $400.  Hey, why be greedy?  I sorta admire him for this.

LAWPAC, which basically represents the trial lawyers, divvied up over $34K, all of it to incumbents–except they also maxed out to Mara Gorman, who is running for a Senate seat this time instead of defending her House seat.

The River & Bay Pilots donated about $11K in contributions, all of it to candidates running in Pennsylvania.

I always enjoy seeing Dave Carter‘s reports.  Direct democracy in action.  With the exception of contributions from like-minded Council members, we’re talking 100% grassroots donations.  Raised about $20 K, spent about $14 K.

Gregg Lindner might pop Zitofsky yet.  He’s pretty much in the same fiscal ballpark in the race for the RD 4–started the year with around $7K, raised over $21.5 this cycle, and has spent about $9K.  Can my Sussex Spies clue me in on the state of this race?  I mean Zitofsky is an interloper.  Does Lindner have a shot?

Didja know that Karen Hartley-Nagle has a PAC?  $500.  Seed money from Marcus?

Beginning to think that D Justine Cuccia is gonna  flip that Suxco County seat from R Doug Hudson.  She had raised over $35K for the race, and was spending it wisely.  Hudson started the year with a little over $2K and has raised a paltry $4K this year. That’s, um, not much.  In fact, I’m calling it: Justine Cuccia will defeat the current Suxco Council President.  Might not be close.

The SENATE R PAC might be out of business were it not for anti-abortion zealot Ellen Barosse.  They raised $53K since the primary, $40K of it coming from Barosse. Hey, if she wants to throw her money away…

Monday:

The Delaware Stonewall PAC has made general election contributions to Branden Fletcher, Alonna Berry, Eric Morrison, Kira Alejandro, Rachel Krantz, Ryan Stuckey, Jack Walsh and–Ted Lauzen(?).  Presumably because Ted is livin’ hand-to-mouth.

Just a note from Ed Osienski‘s report.  I can understand why he contributed to caucus members who ultimately lost.  On merit. And won, despite sucking.  They were, after all, caucus members.  But Ed Mulvihill?  Just wanted you and Rae Krantz to know.

Gotta give Charles ‘Bouvier de Flandres’ Copeland props.  He threw over a grand ($1041.02, to be precise) at the black hole known as the Northern New Castle County Region Republican Party.   Did anyone tell him it’s not tax-deductible, or has he found a workaround?

Concerned Dewey Property Owners weren’t concerned enough to raise or spend any money.  Sussex County Young Republicans have apparently aged out as they neither raised nor spent any money.

The FOP State Fund PAC doled out only one contribution–to ex state cop Gary Taylor, who is running to save whatever honor cops have remaining in the General Assembly.  As of now, there will be zero cops in the upcoming General Assembly.  Let’s keep it that way.  Taylor is running against Rae Moore.  Which electeds will stand up to keep that seat in the D column?  Certainly not Kim Williams, as she wants to keep school kids lunchless.

Say what you will about Claire Snyder-Hall, but she knows how to raise money, most of it of the grassroots variety.  She raised $69K after having started the cycle with over $48K already in the bank.  She’s spent $32 K, so money will not impede her reelection.

I think Mara Gorman will have to re-file her report.  Her 30-day cites ‘State Representative–District 23’ as the office she is seeking.  It’s actually SD 8, where she is running to replace the retiring Dave Sokola.  Anyway, she has raised over $22K this cycle, and started the year with over $17K in the bank.  While she has gotten some corporate funding, it’s largely a group of grassroots contributors who have fueled her campaign.

Looks like her R opponent, Shane Cavanaugh, will have to do the same.  (Hmmm, could this be a Department of Elections screw-up?)  Although Cavanaugh’s campaign is correctly titled ‘Shane Cavanaugh For Senate’, the OFFICE SOUGHT box reads ‘State Representative–District 8’.  Anyway, he raised over $20 K and has spent $16 K, which is respectable.

Republican Mark Pugh is challenging incumbent Kyra Hoffner in this southern NCC district.  Pugh started the year with over $16K, and has raised an additional $33K.  With his expenditures, he has about $32K available.  I don’t think this seat will flip, but it’s one of the very few where an R could flip a D seat.  Just not in this toxic atmosphere that Trump has created.  BTW, Colin Bonini chipped in 25 bucks.

Speaker Mimi chipped in another $600 to Nnamdi Chukwuocha.  Call it an ‘I’ve got your vote, right?’ contribution.

I always look forward to the report from the Shore Democrats.  Why?  Because they’re my kind of grassroots organization. They raise money to support local candidates, many of whom fall below the radar.  Most of the contributions are of the small, but recurring, variety.  They started out with about $26K as of the primary, and raised another $1600.  They donated to the candidacies of Alonna Berry, Ryan Stuckey, and Harry Gold this time around.

Dan Zitofsky, who lost twice to Rae Moore, has moved south to Suxco, where he is looking to succeed the retiring R Representative Jeff Hilovsky.  He has raised over $25K and has spent $6600.

I think we have the AYFKM Award-Winner for 2026.  This rivals the worst reports that even Stephanie Bolden used to file.  Except, instead of Walt’s Flavor Crisp Chicken, we’re talking pretty much every gas station in the Kirkwood Highway corridor.  DeShanna Neal‘s report includes four transactions at Acme, 12 gas station transactions, three from Wawa (perhaps also gas transactions?),  a meal at Applebee’s, and two meals at Hibachi Grill.  Not to mention, several small transactions at BJ’s.  Look, I guess it’s legal to spend the money any way you want (is it?), but campaign expenditures appear to be the lowest priority in this campaign finance report.

Keep an eye on the race for Sussex County Council District 4.  Democrat Justine Cuccia is challenging incumbent R Douglas Hudson, and Cuccia has raised the kind of money needed to make this race competitive.  Almost $35K.  She’s spent over $14.5 K so far, so she should be able to execute her campaign plan.  Sussex Spies: What saieth thou?

Man, the Rethugs spare no expense when it comes to their statewide candidates.  Their candidate for State Auditor (yes, they have one), one April Callaway, has raised the grand total of $1775, and has loaned her campaign an added $2000.  Guess this is what Delaware R’s mean when they speak of ‘self-funding candidates’.

There is a D candidate running in RD 34.  We’ve mentioned her before.  Her name is Annie Norman, and she retired as State Librarian after 40 years with the Delaware Department of State.  She’s raised a little over $11K since filing in June, and has spent none of it.

D Harry Gold is running against Greengrocer Gerald Hocker in SD 20.  He appears to have been added to the ballot by the Democratic Party.  He’s raised $12 K and spent a little over $2100.  Y’know, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, Hocker isn’t gonna be there forever.  This is a worthwhile investment in the future.

Looks like Brett Burdge‘s campaign against Shay Frisby in SD 5 will be of the ‘name on the ballot’ variety.  $2100 raised, $1K of it from Burdge, a total of four contributors.

We’re now caught up on all the reports that were filed today.  Starting tomorrow, I’ll post the most recent reports at the top.  Don’t know why, but I get perverse pleasure doing this.