MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Wes Allen raised the most and John Wahl dominated spending in April in the race to be Alabama’s next lieutenant governor.
Allen, Alabama’s current secretary of state, brought in $122,700 in April. Political action committees donated $88,000 to Allen and made up more than 70% of his fundraising.
Allen received money from nine PACs.
- $5,000 from the Alabama Bankers Association’s ABA PAC
- $10,000 from CarePAC
- $15,000 from BizPAC
- $10,000 from the Alabama Trucking Association’s TrukPAC
- $10,000 from Alabama Credit Union PAC
- $25,000 from the Alabama Farmers Federation’s FarmPAC
- $10,000 from Coastal PAC
- $2,000 from Goodwyn Mills and Cawood PAC
- $1,000 from Rogers Group Inc. PAC
Former Alabama Republican Party Chair John Wahl came in second for fundraising, with an intake of $108,100. Wahl took in an individual donation of $50,000 as well as money from two PACs.
The ET PAC gave $7,500, and the WLPA PAC gave $1,000 to Wahl’s campaign.
Stewart Hill Tankersley, a physician, raised $30,800 in April. All of that money came from individual donations.
Economic developer Nicole Jones Wadsworth raised $15,100. Current Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate brought in $11,700.
Spending
Less than two weeks out from the primary election, a significant portion of candidates’ expenditures were directed to advertising.
Wahl doled out a total of $603,600, with more than $570,000 for advertising.
Allen spent $756,500 in the race last month – $748,500 of which was on ads.
Pate spent $332,500, Wadsworth spent $112,800 and Tankersley spent $11,500.
Overall numbers
Since the start of the race, Wahl has raised the most money at $1,614,900. Allen is close behind with a total intake of $1,596,900.
Pate has raised $469,900, Wadsworth has raised $185,100 and Tankersley has raised $86,300.
Allen has a slight edge over Wahl in expenditures over the course of the campaign. He has spent $926,900 to Wahl’s $923,600.
Pate has spent $530,200, Wadsworth has spent $198,100 and Tankersley has spent $60,600.
Allen has the largest war chest headed into the last stretch of the primary campaign at $939,800. Wahl is behind him with a reserve of $751,900.
Wadsworth has $229,000, Pate has $190,800 and Tankersley has $25,700.
Others in the race
With seven candidates, the Republican primary field for lieutenant governor is incredibly crowded.
Outside of Allen, Wahl, Pate, Wadsworth and Tankersley, Patrick Bishop and George Childress are also running.
Bishop has raised $8,100 over the course of his campaign and has spent $11,800. He has $3,000 in cash on hand.
Childress has not reported any campaign contributions or expenditures with the secretary of state’s office.
On the other side of the aisle, state Rep. Phillip Ensler of Montgomery has dominated fundraising in the Democratic primary.
Ensler has brought in $185,000 and spent $99,900 since joining the race. He has a reserve of $85,200.
His only opponent, Darryl Perryman, has raised $150 and spent $2,200.
The primary election is May 19.