Campaign Donations Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Campaign Donors In Primary Race For Governor Spark Voter Attention

There’s more to glean from a candidate’s campaign financial reports than the amount of money raised. Who and where the contributions come from can spark voter alerts.

There’s more to glean from a candidate’s campaign financial reports than the amount of money raised. Who and where the contributions come from can be a reason for voter alerts.

Third quarter campaign finance reports in the West Virginia governor’s race show the four leading candidates, all Republican, raised nearly $1.2 million combined. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey accounted for nearly half that amount.

Marybeth Beller, Marshall University associate professor of Political Science, looked closely at in-state versus out-of-state contributions. She noted that of the two front-runners, 57 percent of Del. Moore Capito’s donations came from West Virginia donors, while 83 percent of Morrisey’s donors come from out-of-state. Beller said voters should pay attention to that.

“Voters need to really be wary, no matter who the candidate is, if the bulk of that candidate’s support is coming from outside the state,” Beller said. “What did those out-of-state interests have? And what are they trying to get from the gubernatorial position in West Virginia?”

The quarterly reports list donors that have given contributions under $250. Each donation is counted separately, creating multiple donations from single sources.

Beller noted that among the four leading candidates, businessman Chris Miller had 78 donations under $250, with just four multiple donations.

Secretary of State Mac Warner listed 281 individuals donating under $250 with 17 multiples. Capito had 322 individual donations with 25 multiple donors.

Morrisey reported 21,990 individual donations, with most from donors that contributed small amounts multiple times. Beller said this counting system can skew campaign ads.

“Morrisey can say in his ads that he has nearly 22,000 people contribute individual donations,” Beller said. “What would be misleading is for the audience to think that that meant they were individual donors. Most of those are recurring donations.”

Beller said that unlike his competitors, where most contributors list their address and occupation, the bulk of Morrisey’s contributors are unidentified.

“I would urge the Secretary of State’s office to really investigate those disclosures,” Beller said. “I think the public deserves to know where these contributions are coming from for all of the candidates.”

Manchin Campaign War Chest Exceeds Potential Rivals

Manchin reported more than $10 million for year-to-date cash on hand. Mooney and Justice combined year-to-date cash on hand totals reach about $2.3 million.

Even though he’s not yet declared, Sen. Joe Manchin’s 2024 campaign contribution totals tower over his potential Republican rivals.

In the second quarter 2023 campaign finance reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Manchin, D-W.Va., raised $1.268,705.31 million. Republican Senate candidate Gov. Jim Justice raised just under $1 million in the second quarter. Senate candidate and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va, raised $550.000.

Manchin reported $10,710,680.37 for year-to-date cash on hand. Mooney and Justice combined year-to-date cash on hand totals reach about $2.3 million.

Marshall University Associate Professor of Political Science Marybeth Beller said many major Manchin contributors come from out-of-state and have maxed out at the new $6,600 contribution limit.

Beller likens Manchin’s war chest to an organization that works to elect progressive women called Emily’s List. EMILY is an acronym for “early money is like yeast.” She said the funds act as a deterrent for any Democrat thinking about taking him on should he declare to run again for Senate.

“I think what’s going on here is that Senator Manchin is working very, very hard to outshine any possible opposition in his party, or across the aisle by raising all of this money,” Beller said. “If anything should happen, and he fails to get the primary nomination, he can return those donations that have already come in for the general.”

Manchin is also co-chair of the national No Labels party and touted as a possible third-party presidential candidate. Beller said Manchin has an all-options-open electoral strategy for No Labels as well.

“That strategy does not include his home state,” Beller said. “West Virginia is already counted in the solid Republican line with no chance of going for any No Labels candidate whatsoever. I don’t think there will be a viable Senate opponent should he decide to run, I’m sure there will be an opponent.”

Beller said in analyzing the FEC numbers, there are a number of banks around West Virginia that are contributing to Manchin. She said ActBlue, which collects small democratic donor contributions and then gives them out to Democrats, could include a lot of West Virginia donors. But she said it’s telling that the big money donations come from elsewhere.

“Of all those thousands of dollars that have come in for Senator Manchin, only four individual contributors are from West Virginia,” Beller said. “It tells me that the senator is very powerful and that a lot of people are courting his votes, and that he is going to be important if he’s still in the Senate. But nobody’s willing to write him off, by any stretch.”

Manchin has said he will make any possible campaign announcement this December.

W.Va. Campaign Finances Open To The Public

With many candidates for 2024 state offices announcing early, campaign finances are beginning to flow.

This is what is known as the pre-candidate stage in the election cycle. To legally begin financing a campaign, candidates have to file with the Secretary of State’s (SOS) office. As a pre-candidate, one is not bound to run for office. On the SOS website, under elections, there’s a campaign finance reporting system tab.

Once filed for pre-candidacy, candidates must deliver detailed quarterly finance reports to the SOS. Missy Kinder, campaign finance specialist, said on the reporting system website the public can see how much money candidates have received from a person or group – and how much the candidate has spent.

Missy Kinder, campaign finance specialist in the Secretary of State’s office.

“You can sort through the data by the race they’re entering, by office, by their political affiliation, there’s just several different ways that you can find the information that you’re looking for,” Kinder said.

Kinder said the website details money from fundraising events, campaign loans and just who is contributing to campaigns.

“If you’re looking to see if a certain individual has given to candidates, you can even break it down that far,” she said. “If they have contributed any expenditures that a particular candidate has made, you can search through that. There’s also a data download portion of our website that you can go to and that will show any transactions that have occurred in a regular calendar year.”

Relating to transparency in the election cycle, Kinder said it’s important to show that campaign contributions are coming from reliable sources legally allowed to give.

“Corporations cannot give,” she said. “If that corporation would have a separate segregated PAC, a political action committee, that political action committee can give. It all comes from West Virginia State Code.”

Kinder said the public can call or email the Secretary of State’s office if they have any issues with navigating the campaign finance reporting system site.

Candidates can officially file for state office from January 8 – 27 of 2024.

State Election Commission Reviews Objections to Campaign Contributions

The State Election Commission, led by Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, has taken up objections to individual contributions for Supreme Court candidates seeking public campaign financing.

The commission reviewed 155 challenges to contributions to Justice Brent Benjamin’s campaign Wednesday. Those challenges all came from his campaign opponent Beth Walker.

Benjamin is attempting to obtain state public campaign financing for his 2016 re-election bid. The statute creating Public Campaign Financing requires that at least 500 contributions of $100 or less be gathered by candidates before they are eligible to receive the nearly $500,000 in additional funding from the State Election Commission.

2012 was the first year that candidate for the Supreme Court could apply for this public funding, but the only candidate to file, now Justice Allen Loughry, did not have any challenges to his contributions.

Secretary of State Natalie Tennant said because there is no precedent is important that the commission gets it right.

“This is very important. Public financing is so important for the state of WV,” Tennant said. “Here we have to opportunity again to elect a Supreme Court justice under the public financing system that we have. We already have a sitting justice who was elected using public financing. I personally think as a citizen of WV, as the Secretary of State, I have seen the benefit of public financing.”

The State Election Commission will meet again Thursday to discuss an additional 365 challenges to the Benjamin campaign’s contributions.

Gov. Tomblin Unaware of Freedom Industries Donations

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin says he was unaware he received campaign checks from top executives at the company at the center of West Virginia’s chemical spill.

     The Democrat said he found about donations from two Freedom Industries executives from news articles Wednesday morning.

     J. Clifford Forrest, who runs Freedom’s parent company, gave Tomblin’s campaign $500 in 2011 and $500 in 2012. Dennis Farrell, another Freedom executive, gave $500 total to Tomblin in 2011.

     W.Va. Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito received $500 from Forrest last February for her current US Senate bid. US Sen. Joe Manchin received $1,000 from Forrest for his 2008 run for governor. Both are giving the money to West Virginia charities.

     The Freedom donations make up a sliver of the millions of dollars raised for each respective campaign.