On Monday and Tuesday, candidates who are not currently preparing for a runoff election filed their monthly campaign finance reports for May.
Between two major contribution reports filed days after the May 19 primary and contributions reported in the monthly report, Senator and Republican gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville raised almost $100,000 after clinching his party’s nomination.
By comparison, former Senator and Democratic nominee Doug Jones raised $282,962.20 between May 19 and the end of the month. That represents a marked increase from prior months: The Jones campaign reported receiving about $250,000 in all of March.
Despite that bump, Jones still has significantly less cash on hand than Tuberville. Tuberville, who has consistently outraised Jones, ended May with a balance of more than $9 million. Jones had an ending balance of just under $1.3 million, according to his campaign’s monthly report.
That difference is also evident in the disparity between the campaigns’ post-primary expenditures. The Jones campaign spent $138,963.01 between May 19 and the end of the month. Despite raising slightly less during that period, the Tuberville campaign spent more than $260,000, as well as nearly $60,000 in expenditures on lines of credit.
Both campaigns’ largest post-primary expenditures in May were advertising buys. The Tuberville campaign spent more than $74,000 on advertising expenses with Ace Specialties, TAG LLC and Go Big Media LLC. Most of the Jones campaign’s expenditures were classified as advertising expenses, with the largest single expense being $60,000 for services from Lever Communications.
Other Democratic candidates did not see a similar post-primary fundraising bump. Lieutenant governor candidate Phillip Ensler’s monthly campaign finance report details $7,625.50 in cash contributions received between May 16 and May 31.
Agriculture commissioner candidate Ron Sparks’ report similarly includes about $1,250 in cash contributions over the same period. Secretary of state candidate Wayne Rogers raised less than $600 over the same period. Neither Sparks nor Rogers had opposition for the Democratic nomination.
