Without matching money, Senate races show stark disparity

Sen. John Nelson

Several Senate candidates have reported expenditures that dwarfed what their opponents got in public financing, according to the latest disclosures on the Secretary of State’s website.

It remains to be seen if the funding disparities will translate into victories in the August primary and November general election. Money, after all, is not the only determining factor in a race.

But a healthy war chest allows candidates to get their message across, and the bigger the funding, the more effective the messages can be.

In Legislative District 12, Sen. John Nelson, a Republican from Litchfield Park, has raised nearly $71,000 so far.

His Aug. 4 report showed he spent about $35,000 – more than twice the amount that a Clean Elections candidate gets in the primary.

Nelson is in a three-way Republican contest. The other two GOP candidates are Eve Nunez and Clark Silver, who are both running with Clean Elections funding.

Clark and Nunez have received $14,319 each from Clean Elections.

But they won’t get any matching funds.

In the meantime, independent groups have already poured in more than $10,000 in the district to help Nelson.

Rep. Adam Driggs, who is in a three-way Senate primary in LD-11, is also getting a huge boost from outside groups, who have already spent more than $39,000 to help him.

The other GOP candidates are Rich Davis and Andrew Smigielski, both of whom are running with private contributions. Democrat Rita Dickinson is running as a Clean Elections candidate in that district.

None of those candidates have received outside money.

In previous elections, a Clean Elections candidate received a dollar-for-dollar match if a privately funded candidate spent more than the initial disbursement given to the Clean Elections candidate.

This also applied if an outside group spent money opposing the publicly funded candidate or supporting his opponent.

The matching funds were capped.

The system was so appealing even opponents of Clean Elections have run with public financing.

But the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the distribution of matching funds in June, throwing a number of campaigns into disarray.

Sen. Linda Gray, a Republican from Glendale, faces the same hurdle as Nelson’s competitors.

Gray doesn’t have a primary opponent, but Democrat Justin Johnson, who already spent about $35,000 as of Aug. 10, is challenging her in the general election for the District 10 Senate seat.

Johnson has proven to be an able fundraiser, pooling in $81,000 this far.

As a Clean Elections candidate, Gray will get a maximum of $21,000 in the general election, putting her at a money disadvantage in a swing district.

Had matching funds been retained, Gray could have received as much as $64,000 total in her reelection bid.

Gray, however, is benefitting from independent spending.

The Arizona Association of Realtors Leadership Committee has spent about $2,500 in mailings to help Gray.