MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Just over 60 days out from the general election, both of Alabama’s gubernatorial candidates are padding their war chests, according to campaign finance reports filed Wednesday.
Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville led last month in fundraising, bringing in a total of $829,000. Democrat and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones was not far behind with an August intake of $803,000.
The two are facing off in a rematch of the 2020 Senate race that first sent former Auburn University head football coach Tuberville to Washington. The competition has recently been permeated by discussions about data centers, with the two candidates taking opposite perspectives on whether Alabama should embrace the massive facilities.
The data center issue has also made its way into campaign finance, with Tuberville taking in $25,00 from the Dallas-based Applied Digital Corporation, a company connected to a proposed data center in Brookwood, as first reported by AL.com.
Major contributions like this – donations of $20,000 or more – made up nearly 40% of Tuberville’s August fundraising at a total of $315,00.
He took in $75,000 in from large individual donations as well as eight other major contributions.
- $25,000 from Newlight Healthcare, LLC in Austin, Texas
- $25,000 from Applied Digital Corporation in Dallas
- $25,000 from Advance Capital Management Corporation in New Orleans
- $25,000 from Long & Long, P.C. in Mobile
- $35,000 from Trimed Billing Solutions LLC in Hoover
- $30,000 from K12 Management in Reston, Va.
- $50,000 from Rapid Deployment Inc. in Mobile
- $25,000 from Schola Management in Birmingham
Jones brought in only one major donation: $20,000 from a couple in Birmingham. Most of Jones’ cash contributions came from smaller individual donations.
Unlike Tuberville, Jones took in money from political action committees in August. He received $5,000 from the United Steel Workers, $5,000 from the Alabama AFL-CIO, $10,200 from the progressive Persistence PAC based in Huntsville and $1,000 from the Blount County Democratic Club.
Tuberville, who said he will not accept PAC money, took in $100,000 from VGW Luckyland Inc., an online casino based out of Colorado as well as dozens of contributions from other businesses and corporations. The amount qualifies as a major contribution but was not reported in a separate filing as of Wednesday night.
Spending
Though both candidates brought in over $800,000 in August, Jones and Tuberville spent much less than they raised and added to their cash reserve.
Tuberville led the month in expenditures, doling out $573,000 and keeping just over 30% of August fundraising in the bank. Jones spent only $253,000, meaning he saved nearly 70% of what he raised last month.
Consultants and polling made up a large portion of both nominees’ spending.
Even as Election Day inches closer, Tuberville spent only $13,460 in advertising last month. Jones, who is campaigning to be Alabama’s first Democratic governor since 2003, spent around $80,000 on advertising.
Despite similar fundraising efforts in August, Tuberville entered September with a war chest nearly four times the size of Jones’. He started this month with $9.51 million in cash on hand. Jones had $2.53 million.
Jones has raised $4.76 million and spent $2.24 million since joining the race. Tuberville has brought in $14.53 million and spent $5.17 million over the course of his campaign.
The general election is Nov. 3.