PAC Tracker 8/17

Primary School

— 6 min read
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I apologize for the interruption in our regularly scheduled programming. As a result of that unplanned but necessary hiatus, this PAC Tracker covers all independent expenditures filed with the FEC to date in races I’m watching by the end of the day yesterday, August 16, and reports new expenses filed with the FEC since the last PAC Tracker’s cutoff, August 2. Future editions will update the tallies and report new expenses only. As a reminder, this will be included in all subscription tiers, and the paywall is now not going up until September.

A Florida/CA-14 preview is coming next, then a regular issue, then a recap of the August primaries once we have tomorrow's results.

CA-07 (only counting expenditures since the June 2 primary)

81-year-old Rep. Doris Matsui faces a stiff challenge from fellow Democrat Mai Vang, a Sacramento City Councilor running to Matsui’s left with the backing of Justice Democrats and an added message of generational change.

Total IEs: $200,000 | +$200,000
Pro-Matsui: $200,000 | +$200,000

CA-14 (only counting expenditures since the June 2 primary)

AIPAC-backed BART board member Melissa Hernandez and state Sen. Aisha Wahab, who is seen as a progressive, face off in an all-Democratic special runoff in August to fill Eric Swalwell’s House seat, and then have a rematch for the full term in November.

Total IEs: $6,598,090.36 | +$4,020,593.61
Anti-Hernandez: $410,300 | +$410,300
Pro-Hernandez: $2,723,929.50 | +$1,181,832.93
Anti-Wahab: $2,900,831.25 | +$2,138,597.95
Pro-Wahab: $563,029.61 | +$289,862.73

FL-20

After Florida redrew its maps this year, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was left without a district to run in—or she would have been, had now-former Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick not been brought down by a campaign finance scandal. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned amidst an indictment and a House Ethics probe, but is now seeking the seat she just vacated, along with several other candidates who all argue that this Black-majority district should have a Black representative—risking a Wasserman Schultz plurality.

Total IEs: $421,319.07 | +$361,416.56
Pro-Wasserman Schultz: $395,564.58 | +$335,662.07
Pro-Manley: $25,754.49 | +$25,754.49

FL-24

A crowded field of candidates including state Sen. Shevrin Jones and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert are fighting for the right to succeed retiring Rep. Frederica Wilson in this Black-majority Miami-area seat.

Total IEs: $5,770,063.27 | +$4,118,869.99
Anti-Gilbert: $2,308,883.81 | +$2,169,750.61
Pro-Gilbert: $856,658.14 | +$210,869
Anti-Jones: $389,086.56 | +$307,592.67
Pro-Jones: $2,132,101.42 | +$1,347,324.37
Pro-Meek: $83,333.34 | +$83,333.34

FL-25

Florida’s mid-decade gerrymander threw conservative Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz into a Trump+9 district spanning the South Florida coast from Miami Beach to Palm Beach County; democratic socialist primary challenger Oliver Larkin, a union organizer, followed Moskowitz to the 25th.

Total IEs: $623,556.70 | +$623,556.70
Pro-Moskowitz: $559,573.55 | +$559,573.55
Pro-Larkin: $63,983.15 | +$63,983.15

MA-Sen

Sen. Ed Markey should have retired this year, but he didn’t, and the choice is now between Markey and the one Massachusetts politician bold enough to challenge him: transphobic loser Seth Moulton, the congressman for Boston’s northern suburbs and exurbs.

Total IEs: $4,559,371.47 | +$949,114.91
Anti-Markey: $1,884,604.93 | +$402,330
Pro-Markey: $17,917 | +$17,917
Anti-Moulton: $1,660,970.75 | +$212,201.25
Pro-Moulton: $995,878.79 | +$316,666.66

MA-04

Centrist Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a favorite of the tech industry, faces a thinly-resourced challenge from researcher Jason Poulos.

Total IEs: $47,381.90 | +$47,381.90
Pro-Auchincloss: $47,381.90 | +$47,381.90

MA-06

The race to succeed Moulton is an absolute clown car, with state Rep. Tram Nguyen and former MA-03 candidate Dan Koh seeming to lead the pack as self-funder John Beccia and a trio of underfunded progressives fight to break through.

Total IEs: $860,448.91 | +$422,310.24
Pro-Koh: $816,623.47 | +$378,484.80
Pro-Nguyen: $43,825.44 | +$43,825.44

MA-08

Rep. Stephen Lynch has long been an obvious primary target; he was socially conservative long after that stopped being unremarkable for a House Democrat, and he’s just generally up there in years. Attorney Patrick Roath has the backing of some progressive groups and labor unions as well as a lot of local elected officials, as he hopes to make this the year Lynch goes down.

Total IEs: $263,229.03 | +$110,513.97
Anti-Lynch: $102,776.95
Pro-Roath: $160,452.08 | +$110,513.97

NH-01

The top two candidates for outgoing Rep. Chris Pappas’s seat, Stefany Shaheen and Maura Sullivan, are as uninspiring as he is. Shaheen is the daughter of retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, and Sullivan is a repeat NH-01 candidate who was a centrist back when she first ran in 2018 and remains a centrist now. There are other progressives running campaigns with varying degrees of resources; we’ll see if any break through.

Total IEs: $2,252,788.24 | +$956,004.36
Pro-Shaheen: $977,091.56 | +$326,004.36
Pro-Sullivan: $1,275,696.68 | +$630,000

WA-09

Socialist firebrand/crank Kshama Sawant is back, and this time she’s here to irritate Rep. Adam Smith, a bland centrist who has long led Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee.

Total IEs: $5,600
Pro-Sawant: $5,600

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