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Democrat Wes Moore led gubernatorial candidates in fundraising during the waning weeks of the 2022 campaign.
Between June 8 and July 3, Moore and running mate Aruna Miller, a former state delegate from Montgomery County, raised $576,054. The campaign spent about $1.9 million in the same time period, also the most among all candidates for governor.
For the final weeks of the campaign, Moore and Miller also retain the most cash on hand across three campaign accounts: $809,659.
Republican Kelly Schulz and her running mate, Jeff Woolford, both veterans of the Hogan administration, retain the second largest bank balance: $733,596.
They substantially outraised Frederick County Del. Dan Cox (R-Frederick) and running mate Gordana Schifanelli, who brought in a combined $101,772.
But Schulz, a former legislator who was also Hogan’s secretary of Labor and later Commerce, has decried a plan by the Democratic Governors Association to spend more than $1 million on ads in the Republican race. The spending is viewed as part of a trend by Democratic groups to run ads that appear to be critical of far-right candidates but which have the real goal of boosting office-seekers who might struggle in a general election.
Schulz and Woolford raised $208,500 during the last reporting period.
Cox and Schifanelli raised $101,772.
The Schulz campaign found support from political action committees associated with the pro-business group Maryland Free ($6,000) and Maryland Realtors ($3,000). She also received donations from Maryland House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) and Del. Wayne Hartman (R-Lower Shore), who each gave $1,000.
Aside from his fundraising, Cox lists a number of new outstanding obligations, including $8,000 for campaign work done by two of his children and more than $2,400 for fundraising expenses by one of his daughters.
Leading Dems retain six-figures
Back on the Democratic side, former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez and former Baltimore City Councilmember Shannon Sneed retained the second-highest bank balance at the end of the reporting period: $644,89.
The campaign raised $447,386, including a combined $12,000 from the American Federation of Teachers/AFL-CIO PAC and another $12,000 from Empower PAC, which supports progressive causes and candidates.
The campaign spent more than $978,000 during the reporting period.
Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D) and former Prince George’s County Councilmember Monique Anderson-Walker (D) had $632,401 in the bank at the end of the reporting period, across three campaign accounts.
They reported spending more than $1.2 million during the last reporting period, with substantial outlays for media and mailers.
Franchot and Anderson-Walker raised an additional $249,359, including a $6,000 donation from the West Virginia Laborers District Council PAC.
Former U.S. Education Secretary John King and his running mate, Michelle Siri, raised $208,392 during the reporting period and retained $208,916 in the bank for the final weeks of the campaign. They spent about $827,000 across three accounts during the reporting period.
Former Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler and former Hyattsville Mayor Candace Hollingsworth retained $549,912, bolstered by an $800,000 loan Gansler made in April.
AG candidates add to coffers
In the meantime, U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown (D) heads into the final days of the campaign for attorney general with a six-figure fundraising advantage.
Brown has $360,863 cash on hand, compared with $204,852 for fellow Democrat Katie Curran O’Malley, a former Baltimore City District Court Judge.
Brown took in $232,037 and spent more than $1.1 million during the reporting period. Among his contributors were the political campaigns of Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), which gave $2,000, and Hoyer for Congress, which gave $2,500.
O’Malley entered the home stretch with $197,276 in recent contributions and spent $831,082 during the reporting period. She received a $1,000 transfer from the campaign of former Baltimore City Mayor Bernard “Jack” Young and $3,000 from the Baltimore County Firefighters PAC.
In addition, a political action committee that has run TV ads on Brown’s behalf, VoteVets, reported spending just under $400,000. The group had $275,000 in recent contributions, most of it — $250,000 — from June Trone, the wife of congressman and liquor store magnate David Trone (D), a congressional colleague of Brown’s.
Neither of the candidates running in the Republican primary raised much money during the last few weeks.
Michael Anthony Peroutka, a former Anne Arundel County Council member who had ties to the controversial League of the South, took in $8,801. He spent $15,038, leaving him with $27,390.
Former federal prosecutor Jim Shalleck, a Montgomery County attorney who has the endorsement of Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), raised $4,600 and spent $5,906, leaving him $2,101 cash on hand.
Adams makes another loan in comptroller race
In the race for comptroller, Bowie Mayor Tim Adams continues to outpace his Democratic primary rival, Del. Brooke Lierman of Baltimore, though most of his funds come from his own pocket.
A wealthy defense contractor, Adams has loaned his campaign more than $3.3 million. Despite hefty spending on radio, television and direct mail, he enters the final days until the primary with a cash-on-hand advantage.
Adams took in $581,040 during the just-concluded reporting period, including a $575,000 loan to himself.
He listed $961,545 in expenditures and retained $585,308 in his account.
Lierman, who entered the reporting period with more than $1.5 million, took in an additional $183,960. After expenditures of $1,309,232, mostly on media and mail, she has $384,825 for the home stretch.
Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, who is unopposed in the Republican primary, raised and spent little in the last reporting cycle. His war-chest sits at $459,261.
