It took more than securing the most campaign funds to collect the most votes for a
victory in the 2016 Legislative District 18 State Senate and House elections.
State Senate-elect for LD 18, Democrat Sean Bowie and his campaign’s income as of
Oct. 27, 2016, reports a total of $108,800.11 and of those funds his campaign used $104,619.79,
according to the campaign income database from the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
Bowie confirmed that amount and revised that in the weeks towards the end of his
campaign just before election day, his campaign raised over $110,000 and that the final total will
be filled in December.
According to the state’s data, the 2016 LD 18 State Senate candidate Republican Frank
Schmuck and his campaign itemized a total income of $162,255.11 and expended $128,723.63.
As of Nov. 21, 2016, The New York Times sites data from The Associated Press that
verifies Bowie won the seat in the Senate with 51.5 percent and Schmuck lost with 48.5 percent
of the vote.
The New York Times sited data also reports that Democrat Mitzi Epstein and Republican
Jill Norgaard won the race for the two seats in the House with Epstein taking the lead with 30.5
percent and Norgaard coming in second with 29.5 percent of the vote.
Epstein’s campaign reportedly raised a sum of $121,445.40 and spent $88,846.65
according to the state’s current data.
Out of all the candidates on the November ballot that ran for the 2016 LD 18 State Senate
and House seats, Norgaard raised the least in campaign income.
The state’s database determined that Norgaard’s campaign raised a reported total of
$101,034.06 in which she expended $76,572.09 of those funds.
Which candidate raised the most revenue for their campaign that ran for office in LD 18this year? While Schmuck ultimately lost the election, the state’s data conveys that Schmuck
raised the most campaign funds.
What’s fascinating about Schmucks campaign is that he contributed $125,626.11 to his
campaign according to the state’s database of itemized personal and family contributions.
Schmuck is the only candidate that ran in this year’s LD 18 Senate and House elections
that supplied 77 percent of their campaign income with their own funds.
However, Schmuck did this within reason, the state’s data shows that Schmuck is also the
only candidate from the November 2016 LD 18 Senate and House elections that did not earn any
political committee contributions from any political action committees.
The state’s data lists that Democrat Bowie received $15,050 and Democrat Epstein
received $11,950 in political committee donations.
Of the PAC donors according to the state’s itemized data of contributions from political
committees, the Sierra Club Arizona PAC donated $500 to Bowie and $500 to Epstein.
The Sierra Club is a nonprofit organization, founded in 1892 by notable environmental
preservationist, John Muir. The Sierra Club aided in the federal passing of The Clean Air Act of
1970, The Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Sandy Bahr, chapter director of the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club Arizona
PAC, said that with the small donations that they’re available to make, they believe that it’s
important to show their support, which is why they donated to Bowie and Epstein because of
their record for supporting environmental protection.
The state’s political committee contributions current data, displays the names of Bowie
and Epstein’s PAC donors whose PAC names resemble a connection with the Democratic Party,
human service providers, architects and the Sierra Club.
Republican Norgaard’s list of PAC contributors recorded in the state’s database is long
and full with PAC names with identifications that correspond to corporate names like the
Honeywell International PAC, Walmart Stores PAC and The Coca-Cola Company Nonpartisan
PAC for Good Government.
While Norgaard’s total campaign income shows to have accrued the least amount of
revenue in the state’s database currently, her total reported income from contributions from
political committees is $47,250 presently.
The Food Industry PAC, is a PAC that is associated with the Arizona Food Marketing
Alliance, donated $400 to Norgaard’s campaign and did not make any donations to Bowie or
Epstein according to the state’s database.
The Arizona Food Marketing Alliance’s site says that it is a state trade nonprofit
association that represents Arizona food industry retailers and their suppliers that are affected by
state and federal taxes, fees, labeling and food safety legislatures.
There has been an ongoing debate in Tempe, which is partially within LD 18, on the
plastic bag ban, which in summary was enacted and then a ban was placed on the plastic bag
ban.
Bag Central Station, is a campaign that was launched by The Arizona Food Marketing
Alliance in 2007, it focuses on the recycling of plastic bags. The campaign states that banning
plastic bags doesn’t solve the pollution problem that plastic bags present because consumers will just switch to paper bags, which according to the campaign are more harmful to the environment than plastic bags.
Tim McCabe, president of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance, said that he would have
to do some research to see if they contributed to Norgaard and why they would have donated to
her.
McCabe stated that when making campaign contributions to political candidates they
would donate to “a candidate that we think is favorable to issues that are related to our business.”
So what did it take to win an election in LD 18 in 2016? Well, probably a lot of money,
but no one could be a victor without lots of campaigning effort.
For Bowie, during the course his campaign he said that he personally knocked on over
12,000 doors to talk to voters.
“I think that has a much bigger impact than raising an extra $10,000 or $20,000 because
I’m having these one-one-one conversations with these voters and you can’t really put a price tag
on that,” Bowie said.