A District-By-District Look At Senate Fundraising And Spending

Earlier today we took an in-depth look at where the Democrats and Republicans are spending the most money in state legislative races. Now let’s go district-by-district to see how much each candidate raised, what contributions were interesting and what it all means (we’ll start with just the State Senate – this took longer than expected).

The big thing to keep in mind here is that a lot of the numbers under the “spending” is actually the candidate sending money to the party. In Iowa most targeted legislative races are coordinated by the state party. A candidate raises say $50,000 and sends it to the party to pay for part of their program. The party may spend $150,000 on that race, the candidate is just helping as much as they can. The raised amounts only mean so much as well – the in-kind is where the bulk of the mail and TV spending is done. Cash-on-hand is similarly not as important as it is in congressional and senate races. The party has most of the money, which I may cover in another post if I have time.

Let’s start off with the Senate:

SD 8

Mike Gronstal (D)
Raised: $500,893
Spent: $197,921
COH: $881,681
In-Kind: $247,428

Noteworthy: $65,000 Great Plains Laborers, $50,000 Heavy Highway, $30,000 Operating Engineers, $15,000 IAFF (fire fighters), $35,000 from Kyle Krause, $20,000 Iowa Health

Dan Dawson (R)
Raised: $6,085
Spent: $4,945
COH: $5,799
In-Kind: $319,445

Noteworthy: $2,500 Joni PAC

Analysis: Dawson’s lack of fundraising is kind of funny, as it’s clear the major PACs are too afraid to donate directly against the Senate Majority Leader. But their money to other Republicans are still making their way into TV ads against Gronstal through the Republican state party and Bill Dix. Dawson got $190,175 worth of TV. Gronstal listed $158,724 as “media.” I’m guessing that’s mostly TV – the Senate Democrats were a little vague in how they reported their TV time.

Dawson still should have been able to raise more from the local Council Bluffs Republican crowd, but perhaps Dix just told him to occupy all his time with knocking doors. Either way, Republicans are really going after Gronstal at a level that shows they mean business.

SD 26

Mary Jo Wilhelm (D)
Raised: $61,456
Spent: $102,113
COH: $17,920
In-Kind: $141,853

Noteworthy: $3,500 IHA PAC, $10,000 Great Plains Laborers, $5,000 Justice For All PAC, $3,000 Realtors

Waylon Brown (R)
Raised: $42,414
Spent: $23,360
COH: $26,311
In-Kind: $297,232

Noteworthy: $4,000 Farm Bureau, $2,500 Joni PAC, $3,000 Family Leader PAC, $2,500 Koch Industries

Analysis: Brown got $189,844 for TV and radio, $24,000 for digital buys. Wilhelm got $92,807 for TV and radio. The 2-to-1 disparity here is very surprising considering most thought Wilhelm would have an easier race in 2016, not having to defeat an incumbent for once. The Family Leader donation is interesting.

SD 28

Jan Heikes (D)
Raised: $43,778
Spent: $51,866
COH: $8,526
In-Kind: $65,776

Noteworthy: $10,000 Great Plains Laborers, $10,000 Justice For All, $5,000 UFCW, $2,000 Erik Johnson of Decorah

Michael Breitbach (R)
Raised: $71,040
Spent: $82,400
COH: $446
In-Kind: $128,544

Noteworthy: $5,000 General Contractors, $5,000 Farm Bureau, $5,000 Master Builders, $5,000 Realtors, $2,500 Joni PAC, $5,000 NAIFA, $1,500 Koch Industries PAC

Analysis: It’s incredible that after losing by only 17 votes in 2012 that Senate Democrats haven’t put up more of a fight in this district. The laborers and the lawyers must have thought it top tier when they donated that much at least. Republicans aren’t going in with the full program for Breitbach like they are in their challenger districts, but they’re still putting in a sizable amount. If Democrats don’t come close in this race, you really have to question what the hell Gronstal is doing.

SD 30

Jeff Danielson (D)
Raised: $102,583
Spent: $66,828
COH: $193,257
In-Kind: $15,645

Noteworthy: $5,000 General Contractors, $5,000 WDM Firefighters, $5,000 Elite PAC, $3,000 Dental PAC, $3,500 IHA, $3,000 Iowa Medical PAC, $10,000 AFSCME, $3,500 Iowa BEV PAC,

Bonnie Sadler (R)
Raised: $14,823
Spent: $23,130
COH: $780
In-Kind: $58,989

Noteworthy: Three people – Thomas Swegle, Brian/Sara Wegmann and TJ Johnsrud all donated $3,333 each. Must have been some agreement to raise her $10,000.

Analysis: As previously mentioned, Danielson doesn’t work through the state party funding system, preferring to raise and spend from his own campaign. From his filing it looks like he spent $19,493 on TV, $25,000 on billboards, $4,049 on live calls and $2,500 on the UNI Democrats for organizing. The party in-kinded him three or four mailers. Sadler got $10,000 worth of TV. Doesn’t look like the Republicans are going to seriously contest Danielson’s race, just doing enough to keep it in the realm of possibility.

SD 32

Brian Schoenjahn (D)
Raised: $68,995
Spent: $85,114
COH: $9,211
In-Kind: $192,772

Noteworthy: $4,000 Plumbers and Pipefitters, $5,000 Rural Electrification, $2,500 IHA, $7,000 Ed Friedman of Redfield, Iowa, $5,000 Justice For All, $10,000 Great Plains Laborers, $1,000 Microsoft Corporation PAC

Craig Johnson (R)
Raised: $21,304
Spent: $39,415
COH: $139
In-Kind: $314,024

Noteworthy: $5,000 Iowa Realtors, $2,500 Joni PAC, $2,500 Builders and Contractors, $2,500 NAIFA PAC

Analysis: It appears Republicans now see Schoenjahn’s race as their best pick-up opportunity in the state over Brase, or at least the most competitive. Johnson got $160,000 in TV, $51,751 for radio and $22,300 for digital. Schoenjahn had $119,994 on TV and radio (it didn’t specify which was which).

SD 34

Liz Mathis (D)
Raised: $71,798
Spent: $154,089
COH: $56,015
In-Kind: $44,206

Noteworthy: $10,000 Linn County Phoenix Club, $7,500 IHA, $3,000 Realtors, $3,500 Linn County Democrats

Rene Gadelha (R)
Raised: $24,319
Spent: $73,918
COH: $6,720
In-Kind: $242,282

Noteworthy: $10,000 Credit Union, $2,500 Joni PAC

Analysis: Boy, the credit union sure must not like Mathis. You don’t usually see that much from a PAC going against a popular incumbent. Anyway, Gadelha got $135,775 for TV. Mathis spent $69,086 from her own campaign account for TV ads she produced herself, while she got several rounds of mail from the party. The Linn County Democrats should win an award for how much they help their local candidates with fundraising from the county party and their Phoenix Club. You don’t see that in many other counties. Republicans are wasting an awful lot of money in this district with the over-the-top negative TV ads that backfired on them.

SD 36

Steve Sodders (D)
Raised: $56,425
Spent: $58,266
COH: $40,549
In-Kind: $116,610

Noteworthy: $2,500 UAW, $2,500 General Contractors, $5,000 Rural Electrification, $2,500 Credit Union, $3,000 DRIVE PAC, $2,500 Justice For All

Jeff Edler (R)
Raised: $28,094
Spent: $46,965
COH: $1,304
In-Kind: $283,012

Noteworthy: $2,000 Marshall County GOP, $2,500 Joni PAC

Analysis: Edler got $164,515 for TV, $52,965 for 12 rounds of direct mail, $21,697 for radio buys, $20,800 for digital. Sodders got $71,392 for media, $41,446 for mail. Republicans must have seen something in their polling that Democrats did not for them to be spending so much more here. I’m guessing Sodders gets a lot more TV money for the final weeks.

SD 42

Rich Taylor (D)
Raised: $39,075
Spent: $36,675
COH: $14,484
In-Kind: $51,456

Noteworthy:

Danny Graber (R)
Raised: $1,950
Spent: $1,442
COH: $1,720
In-Kind: $0

Noteworthy:

Analysis: Graber’s not real, Taylor should handily hold this seat. Taylor spent $5 on Facebook ads. The rest was on mail. One very interesting thing is how the targeted Republicans are spending around $20,000 each on digital and social media. Democrats do not appear to be doing the same. That’s a pretty important battlefield these days that you’d think the Democratic Party would be leading the way on.

SD 46

Chris Brase (D)
Raised: $129,736
Spent: $217,068
COH: $5,249
In-Kind: $236,886

Noteworthy: $5,000 WDM firefighters, $2,000 Muscatine firefighters, $1,000 Sioux City firefighters, $5,000 IBEW, $8,000 Quad City Fed, $10,000 Great Plains Laborers, $2,000 Des Moines firefighters, $5,000 Building Trades, $25,000 national firefighters, $5,000 UFCW, $10,000 Justice for All, $5,000 Ed Friedmann of Redfield, Iowa.

Mark Lofgren (R)
Raised: $25,355
Spent: $18,737
COH: $42,815
In-Kind: $258,785

Noteworthy: $5,000 Iowa Realtors, $5,000 Gage Kent of Muscatine, $2,500 Koch Industries PAC

Analysis: Can you tell that labor likes Chris Brase? He’s also one of firefighters’ top priorities in the entire country. Brase got $154,998 for a mixture of TV and radio. Lofgren got $165,706 for TV and radio, along with $21,150 for digital ads. His campaign also spent $11,000 on advertising through Victory Enterprises.

It’s very interesting to see Lofgren at the $250,000 level of in-kind instead of the $310,000 level that several other challengers got to. That could mean that Republicans feel very comfortable about taking this district and didn’t think it needed the extra bit of funding. Or it could mean the race fell down their list of priorities. This is Democrats’ second-highest spending district, so it’s still at the top of their list.

Scott Peterson (D)
Raised: $25,893
Spent: $5,263
COH: $30,818
In-Kind: $0

Noteworthy: $8,500 from the Linn County Phoenix Club

Dan Zumbach (R)
Raised: $82,080
Spent: $107,741
COH: $16,906
In-Kind: $104,830

Noteworthy: $1,000 Koch Industries PAC, $2,500 Joni PAC

Analysis: Republicans must have been just nervous enough to dump a good chunk of change into this district to keep Zumbach safe. But state Democrats haven’t spent a dime, not even for one of the early absentee mailers for the full district. It’s a missed opportunity and means Republicans can direct that many more resources into Democratic incumbent races.

by Pat Rynard
Posted 10/20/16