In the campaign for Secretary of State, radical right-winger Heather Baxter is beating Democrat Terrence Davis in raising and spending money. In her pre-general campaign finance report, Baxter reports raising $80,052.95 and spending $85,709.28. Davis is competitive in fundraising, drawing $53,519.47, but he’s been slow out of the blocks in deploying that money to grab voters’ attention, spending only $18,443.09.
Baxter has rallied 63 donors to chip in more than $100, including fellow radicals Steve and Mary Haugaard ($500), Florence Thompson ($500), Julie and Mike Mueller ($125), Joel and Tonchi Weaver ($200), Janet Jensen ($150), Tony Kayser ($8,000), Al Novstrup ($200), Julie Auch ($300), and the Mission/Winner/Valentine Assmans (Mike: $4,000; Darla: $4,000; Greg & Cindy: $1,000; Chris & Cathy: $1,000).
Davis reports 65 donations of greater than $100; he just doesn’t have as many four-figure donations as Baxter. I do not see a check from his headline Republican endorser, incumbent Secretary of State Monae Johnson (and it is fitting that the election chief not be giving money to any candidates whose petitions and votes she certifies), but David has secured the $250 endorsement of De Knudson and another $1,000 from either De or her husband, former Republican legislator David Knudson. Davis also snagged $1,000 from conservative Sioux Falls mega-donor Matthew Paulson.
Both candidates have widespread party support. Baxter reports $13,475.13 from 19 county-level GOP groups, $1278.31 from three in-state Republican PACs (including $750 from the Freedom Caucus cranks), and $3,374.51 from eight right-wing candidate PACs (most odiously $649.51 from outgoing District 5 Rep. Josephine Garcia from Watertown and $500 from unfortunately unchallenged District 13 Senator Sue Peterson from Sioux Falls). Most grossly, Baxter took a donation of yard signs worth $1,736.79 from radical election-denier Rick Weible of Elkton.
Davis reports $4,425 from 10 Democratic County parties and $2,500 from the state Democratic Party. (The South Dakota Republican Party hasn’t donated anything to any candidates.) Davis has drawn another $4,400 from three South Dakota PACs: $1,000 from the Democratic Forum of Southeast Dakota, $1,000 from the non-partisan Change Agents, and Sarah Meagher’s Sioux Falls-based Everyday People PAC, which formed this year and has used money from prominent Democratic lawyer Scott Heidepriem, former Republican legislator James Wangsness, and Sioux Falls cannabis op Genesis Farms to fund Davis and unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Sioux Falls mayor Jamie Smith. Davis also availed himself of $2,500 in donated digital advertising from Democratic candidate for State Treasurer Margaret Kuipers.
On paper, I’d argue that Baxter has deployed her money much more effectively. Baxter spent all of the money she raised this reporting period and more from pre-primary, while Davis spent only a third of what he took in. Baxter reports spending $49,930.64, nearly 59% of her pre-general expenditures, on advertising, and only $9,485.75, 11% of her outgo, on “consulting”, the fun catch-all category we use for paying campaign staff and advisors. Davis reports spending only $3,500 on advertising, less than 19% of his $18,443.09 in expenditures. Davis burned 66% of his cash, $12,155, on political strategists and his campaign manager Ngoc Thach. I would think those strategists would have advised Davis that the best strategy is to flip those ratios: do like Baxter and spend a majority of your money on advertising and a much smaller fraction on salaries. Spend your money reaching the people who need to hear your name, the voters!
Davis’s pre-general report also shows no travel spending, while Baxter has spent $6,841.04 on travel.
Davis had better be planning to spend all of the $57,582.72 he let moulder in the bank on a big last-weeks ad blitz—signs in yards in every county, bouncy slogans and promises up and down the radio dial, and some ominous “Heather’s a wingnut!” blasts on Youtube—and a big noisy roadtrip to any place where he can find crowds to address and doors to knock, or Baxter is going to advertise and outwork him on her way to ruining South Dakota’s election management.