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Paul Davis Public Recordan independent Kansas archive

Campaign archive · 2014 campaign

January 8, 2014: Davis reports $1 million raised in 2013

This address held the 2014 campaign's release on its first finance report. The release is not reproduced. Here is what the reports showed, as covered by the Kansas press, and how the money race developed.

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Archive note written by the Public Record editors. The campaign's original text is not reproduced.

What was reported

On Wednesday, January 8, 2014, the Davis campaign filed its first report with the state covering the 2013 calendar year. It showed just over $1 million in contributions, raised in less than five months after Davis entered the race. The campaign's release put the exact total at $1,002,389 and described it as unprecedented for a challenger to a Kansas governor. The campaign ended 2013 with almost $771,000 in cash.

Davis was running with Wichita businesswoman Jill Docking, whom he had named as his running mate in October 2013.

How Brownback compared

A day before the Davis filing, David Kensinger, a longtime Brownback adviser, said the governor had raised more than $1.6 million in 2013 and finished the year with nearly $2 million on hand. Kensinger argued that no challenger had come back from an early cash gap that size.

The comparison soon got more complicated. Brownback's year-end total included a $500,000 loan from his running mate, Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer, made on December 31, the last day of the reporting period. The state Ethics Commission's director said she could not recall a candidate loan of that size. Colyer said it showed the ticket's commitment to its policies. Davis's campaign treasurer, William Kassebaum, said that without the loan the two campaigns had raised similar amounts, with Davis doing it in about half the time. The loan was repaid in early January.

Reading the numbers

Raising money early is one way campaigns show donors and the press that they are serious, which is why both sides talked about the totals. Fundraising totals do not translate directly into votes, and cash on hand, which the incumbent kept the lead in, matters most in the fall.

How the money race developed

Davis kept raising money at a faster pace. Reports filed in late July showed he had brought in more than $1.1 million from January to July 24, 2014, against about $744,000 for Brownback. Brownback still had more in the bank, about $2.37 million to Davis's $1.32 million, and Colyer lent the campaign another $500,000 on July 23.

How it turned out

Brownback won re-election on November 4, 2014, 49.8 percent to 46.1 percent. See the elections page. For Davis's later fundraising announcements in the 2018 congressional race, see October 2017.

Sources

  1. Tonganoxie Mirror (AP): Kansas Democrat Davis raises $1 million for Topeka run (Jan. 9, 2014)
  2. Tonganoxie Mirror (AP): $500,000 loan to Brownback causes stir (Jan. 14, 2014)
  3. KMUW: Davis raises $1M for gov race (Jan. 8, 2014)
  4. KMUW: Davis outraises Brownback in 2014 campaign donations (July 30, 2014)
  5. Ballotpedia: Kansas gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2014

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