Delaware primary candidates make final $707,000 spending push

Candidates battling it out for state office in Thursday's primary elections have gone on a spending spree this month, mostly buying billboards, Facebook ads and direct mailers they hope will sway voters to their side.

Kathy Jennings, a Democrat running for Delaware attorney general who has led all candidates in terms of fundraising, dropped $377,000 over the last three weeks.

That's more than half of the $707,000 spent by all primary candidates during the same period, according to the latest round of campaign finance reports that were due at midnight on Friday.

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By comparison, the three other Democrats running for attorney general — Chris Johnson, Tim Mullaney and LaKresha Roberts — spent just under $26,000 combined.

The vast majority of Jennings' last-minute spending went to one vendor, a Philadelphia-based company called The Campaign Group that specializes in ad blitzes for Democratic candidates.

Voters in New Castle and Kent counties can expect to see that spending materialize in the form of television ads on the three major networks in the Philadelphia market that will begin airing Monday night.

"The reason that money was contributed to my campaign and the reason it's being spent is to make sure Delaware voters are informed about what I stand for and what I plan to achieve," Jennings said. "The best thing candidates can spend on reaching voters directly and that's what we're trying to do."

While Jennings might be the only candidate for state office who can afford TV spots in the Philadelphia market, voters can expect to be inundated with other forms of advertising over the next week.

"This is the sweet spot for ads," said Rhett Ruggerio, a longtime Democratic operative who now runs the influential lobbying firm Ruggerio Wilson & Associates.

"A lot of voters are going to be making up their minds over the next couple of days," he said. "And that means they are going to start seeing their mailboxes filling up with campaign literature."

Some of those mailers will be coming from Kathleen McGuiness, a Democrat running in a three-way primary for state auditor. Her opponents include Kathleen Davies, a former state chief administrative auditor, and former state lawmaker Dennis E. Williams. 

McGuiness was the second-biggest spender over the last three weeks, having dropped more than $43,300 mostly to a pair of Washington D.C.-based political advertising firms.

"We've planned a very comprehensive approach across several forms of advertising," McGuiness said. That includes television ads that last week began running during national and local news programs in Sussex County and southern Kent County markets.

Those television ads are possible largely because Jennings and McGuiness ranked first and second for the most money raised by primary candidates for state office during the last campaign finance reporting period.

They both continued that haul through Aug. 30, with Jennings collecting $63,640 in contributions and McGuiness pulling in $21,275.

But one candidate received more contributions than McGuiness over the last three weeks.

Nnamdi Chukwuocha, a Wilmington City Councilman challenging incumbent Democrat Charles Potter in Thursday's primary for the District 1 state House seat, added $25,800 to his war chest.

He also outspent Potter during the period, dropping nearly $9,200 largely on printing costs, compared to the incumbent's expenditures of close to $7,800, chunks of which went to Facebook ads and signs.

Elizabeth "Tizzy" Lockman, meanwhile, added another $19,000 to her fundraising haul, more than twice the new money collected by Jordan Hines, her opponent in the Democratic primary race for the District 3 state Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Robert Marshall, D-Wilmington.

Lockman also spent big in the final weeks before the primary, peeling off $34,700 for expenses such as paying political marketing firms for help with advertising. Hines, on the other hand, spent less than $1,100, most of which went to purchase food for a recent fundraiser.

The primary contest for both the District 1 House seat and the District 3 Senate seat will determine who wins those offices, because no Republican has filed in either race.

Several other primary races for seats in the General Assembly remained relatively low-spending affairs with most candidates dropping less than $10,000 over the last three weeks.

Some notable exceptions included attorney Krista Griffith, who spent $21,000 compared to her Democratic primary opponent Rachel Blumenfeld, a public school teacher whose campaign wrote checks totaling $12,000 since early August. The winner of that race will face Republican incumbent Deb Hudson in a general election contest for the District 12 seat that represents Centreville.

Democrat Renee Taschner went on a $20,400 spending spree — five times more than her primary opponent Guillermina Gonzalez.

The winner of that race will face the winner of the Republican primary between Michael Smith and Katherine Beard in the November general election contest for the District 22 House seat from Pike Creek, long held by retiring incumbent Republican Joe Miro.

Friday's campaign filing reports do not include candidates for federal office. The next deadline for campaign finance reports from state-level candidates is Oct. 9, one month before the general election.

Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.

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