Costly campaigns: Where money is flowing in WA’s elections

By Jerry Cornfield / Washington State Standard

Donations of a few bucks to several grand continue to flow into candidate and political committee coffers ahead of next Tuesday’s election.

Candidates for city, county and state offices and judgeships across Washington will have spent an estimated $61 million on their campaigns, as of Tuesday, Oct. 29. For the entire 2020 election cycle, candidates spent about $65.7 million on their campaigns.

Another $48 million this year poured into efforts to sway opinions on four statewide ballot measures.

That’s a lot of dough delivered since the start of the election cycle. A search of the state Public Disclosure Commission database reveals names of individuals who’ve contributed $1 to candidates as well as the billionaires, corporations, unions and tribes writing much larger checks.

Here is a selective sample of the costlier contests and biggest donors this cycle.

Fundraising and contribution totals will continue to change, the figures presented here were current on the afternoon of Oct. 29.

Executive decision

It’s no surprise the governor’s race is the year’s most expensive contest for a state office. In dollars and cents, it’s turned out pretty lopsided considering it is the first time in 12 years no incumbent is running.

The money behind Democrat Bob Ferguson, the three-term attorney general, is nearly quadruple the sum pushing Republican Dave Reichert, the former congressman.

Ferguson had raised $13.5 million and spent $12.8 million entering the campaign’s final week while Reichert hauled in $6.5 million and had about $1.2 million unspent.

Included in Ferguson’s fundraising total is nearly $2.5 million from the Washington State Democratic Party and $1.2 million of contributions to his past campaigns that he transferred into this one.

Meanwhile, outside forces — chiefly the Democratic Governors Association — are abetting Ferguson’s bid, deploying $7.1 million to hammer Reichert.

Though Ferguson has rejected campaign contributions from large corporations, he’s not objected to the state party and Democratic governors group tapping corporate cash on his behalf.

A report filed by the Democratic Governors Association in September listed $500,000 in contributions from Microsoft and $260,000 from Amazon. And the state Democratic Party has received money from an array of corporate interests including the Boeing Political Action Committee, Uber, DoorDash Inc., and Regence BlueShield. Those funds came to the account used to directly support Ferguson.

The Republican Governor’s Association is sitting out the race unlike a dozen years ago when it spent $9.3 million against Democrat Jay Inslee, who beat Republican Rob McKenna.

Reichert, who’s received just under $200,000 from the state Republican Party, isn’t without some outside support. Washington 24, whose largest donor is Steve Gordon, retired business owner and Pierce County Republican, has spent $350,000 on television ads backing Reichert. This group and another committee, Bob for Bob, are spending $171,000 opposing Ferguson.

Costly measures

Have you received a deluge of campaign mailers or seen an uptick in TV ads urging you to vote one way or another on Washington’s four statewide ballot initiatives? You can thank more than $48 million flooding into the campaigns surrounding them.

Most of that money is getting funneled toward urging “no” votes on all the measures. As of Monday, about $40 million has gone to opposition campaigns. About $25 million has spent so far on this effort.

In comparison, the campaign for the initiatives, led by Let’s Go Washington, has raised more than $8.5 million and spent more than $7 million, as of Monday.

That sum includes $6.2 million from Brian Heywood, the committee founder, in 2023 to fund the gathering of signatures for six initiatives, three of which are on the ballot. His total includes $4.5 million in loans and $1.7 million in cash contributions.

The most cash is being spent to convince voters to vote “no” on Initiative 2117, which would repeal the state’s Climate Commitment Act. The “no” side has raised nearly $17 million from billionaires like Steve and Connie Ballmer and Bill Gates, nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy, state employee unions and tribes. So far, $12.7 million has been spent on this effort.

The initiative attracting the next largest sum is I-2124, which would make the state’s long-term care program – and paying the tax that funds it – optional for Washington workers. Supporters of the program say this would destabilize its finances and set it on a path toward failure. They are making last-ditch efforts to ensure voters know that.

So far, they’ve raised more than $13.3 million and spent $5.6 million against the ballot measure. The top donor by far is Service Employees International Union 775, which has made multi-million dollar infusions into the campaign in recent weeks. The union represents thousands of long-term care workers in the region.

Opponents of the initiative to repeal the state’s capital gains tax, I-2109, have brought in more than $4.3 million and spent $3.3 million. Top donors include unions like the Washington Education Association and the Washington Federation of State Employees.

The fourth – and newest – initiative to hit the ballot is I-2066, which would block state and local government efforts to phase out natural gas in homes. The campaign against that initiative has so far raised $230,400 and spent $212,400. Top donors include environmental groups like Washington Conservation Action and Climate Solutions.

Meanwhile, Defend Washington, a coalition of progressive groups is funding an effort against all of the initiatives. It has raised more than $5 million and has sprinkled $3 million in spending across the opposition campaigns.

Big spenders

Unions, billionaires, corporations and nonprofits are behind some of the biggest cash drops this election cycle.

Most of this spending is going toward the initiative campaigns, though some state and local candidates are also reaping the benefits.

By far the largest donor this cycle is SEIU 775, the caregivers union that’s all in on the campaign against the long-term care initiative. To date, the union and its various branches have spent nearly $18 million this year.

Most of that is going to the campaign against the long-term care initiative. The union dumped a huge $4 million into that effort last week. A number of legislative and statewide candidates, including Ferguson, Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and Secretary of State Steve Hobbs are also seeing funding boosts from the SEIU 775.

Teacher unions are also giving big. The Washington Education Association, along with its national and local affiliates, have collectively spent more than $3.6 million on local candidates and against the capital gains initiative. Revenue from the tax is devoted to child care, early childhood education, and school construction.

Some of Washington’s well-known billionaires are getting in on the action, too. The Ballmers, of Microsoft fame, dished out $2.6 million against the Climate Commitment Act initiative and for mostly Democratic candidates seeking legislative and statewide offices.

Gates has given $1 million against I-2117, the initiative to repeal the climate law. Chris Stolte, CEO of Tableau, has spent $1.2 million this cycle on multiple progressive races.

Well-known corporations like BP America, Amazon and Microsoft are also top spenders this year as well as nonprofits like the Nature Conservancy and Clean and Prosperous Washington.

An expensive state Senate battle

The duel between Republican state Sen. Ron Muzzall and Democrat Janet St. Clair in the 10th Legislative District is the costliest legislative race this year with nearly $3 million spent to sway voters by candidates and outside forces. It’s no surprise given Muzzall won the seat, which represents all of Island and parts of Snohomish and Skagit counties, by fewer than 2,000 votes in 2020.

Muzzall is outraising and outspending St. Clair, an Island County commissioner, by a roughly 2-to-1 margin. He had hauled in $927,000 and spent $785,000 as of Tuesday. Nearly $460,000 of his contributions come from Republican sources including the state party and political operations of the GOP caucuses in the state Senate and House. Microsoft, health care and insurance firms, and a handful of federally recognized tribes are among his individual donors.

St. Clair had raised $528,000 and spent $390,000. The Washington Senate Democratic Campaign and other Democratic Party-affiliated groups have chipped in almost $250,000. An array of statewide labor unions are among the largest individual donors.

The single largest source of outside money in this contest is the New Direction PAC, an alliance of Democratic and Republican groups and three of the state’s most powerful labor organizations: SEIU 775, Washington Education Association, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW.

This political committee has spent nearly $1 million – $719,000 on mailers and commercials attacking Muzzall and $232,000 pumping up St. Clair.

Washington Wins sponsored by The Leadership Council is another significant outside force. This political committee, led by Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, has expended $374,339 supporting Muzzall and $162,185 against St. Clair. And Sound Jobs, a political committee of business interests, has poured $210,528 into mailers targeting the Democratic challenger. Its major donors are Marathon Petroleum Corp., Washington Realtors and Phillips 66.

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