Political Fundraising Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice, Mooney Senate Campaign Finance Numbers Note Diverse Support

The Republican U.S. Senate primary campaigns for Gov. Jim Justice and Rep. Alex Mooney released their candidates’ second quarter finance numbers this week.

The Federal Election Commission’s deadline for second quarter filing is July 15. Neither candidate had filed as of this story’s publishing.

The Justice campaign said it has raised more than $935,000 since he announced his candidacy in late April. The Mooney campaign says he raised $550,000 in the second quarter of 2023.

Mooney’s camp said it currently has $1.5 million cash on hand. Justice’s people report over $800,000 cash on hand entering the third fundraising quarter.

West Virginia University’s (WVU) Political Science Department Chair John Kilwein thinks the amounts were closer than expected.

“Given Justice’s popularity and support by Mitch McConnell and the polling data, I thought it was going to be a lot higher,” Kilwein said, referring to the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky, who recruited Justice to run.

The Justice campaign press release highlights “receiving support from 5,526 individual donors, with 93 percent of those donors giving less than $100.”

Mooney’s campaign release touts, “Club for Growth Action and Protect Freedom PAC (Political Action Committee) announced that it hauled in an impressive $13.55 million for Alex Mooney.”

Kilwein said both releases clearly come with a specific angle from the candidate’s perspective. He sees two possible scenarios for the dichotomy in highlighting small vs. big donations.

“One, you may be taking advantage of what is a reality that isn’t as helpful to you,” Kilwein said. “If that’s where you got the money from, then you simply have to brag about where you got it. Or, it just may be that both candidates are saying, here’s the narrative – Mooney may be explaining to more fiscally conservative voters, look who’s backing me. Justice is playing on his strength, a popular governor, well loved across the state.”

Mooney’s release notes, “Club for Growth PAC endorsed Alex Mooney in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate Race because Alex is a proven conservative.”

When asked about the PACs aligned with McConnell supporting Justice and how much money has been raised, Justice’s campaign manager Roman Stauffer suggested using this quote attributed to him, not answering the question:

“Governor Justice received tremendous support from West Virginians and others who have confidence in his leadership and conservative record and know he is the strongest candidate for the U.S. Senate,” Stauffer said. “Unlike our opponent, we are focused on talking to West Virginians and not coordinating with out-of-state groups desperate to influence this race.”

Justice and Mooney are the two leading Republican candidates on the May 2024 primary ballot. Incumbant Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has said he expects to announce his future political intentions in December.

Even with West Virginia being such a red state, Kilewein said Justice and Mooney “should not think this is going to be a cakewalk once it gets to the general election.”

“Why? Just because Manchin is Manchin,” Kilwein said. “It could be a complete wipeout. But I also think that it could be tough. I definitely could see Manchin run with this kind of folksy charm against Mooney, who certainly lacks that as someone who is not a native is needed. It will be a tougher battle between Justice and Manchin, but Justice comes to this with some problems with his companies and his age and his health, and his apparent lack of interest in not wanting to live in Charleston. How are you going to want to live in D.C.? I’m not saying that the Republicans are not going to win. I’m just saying that it may not be as easy as they think it is.”

West Virginia’s 2024 primary election is May 14.

Clinton Raises $26 Million in April for Primary Bid

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary is reporting raising about $26 million in April for her primary race against Bernie Sanders.

Clinton’s campaign said it has $30 million in the bank heading into May, only slightly less than the $29 million she had at the start of last month.

Sanders raised the same amount last month, marking a steep decline from the $46 million he raised in March. He did not report how much money he has on hand, raising questions about whether he can sustain his robust online fundraising as his path narrows.

Clinton has now raised $213.5 million in primary funds for the campaign and more than $46 million for national and state Democratic parties.

Clinton is campaigning in Kentucky and West Virginia on Monday.

House Seeks to Strengthen Sexual Assault Laws at Schools

Members of the House Judiciary Committee are revisiting the state’s mandatory reporting law after an incident at Capital High School in Charleston. The school’s principal, Clinton Giles, resigned from his post after reports that he failed to notify law enforcement of a sexual assault on the high school’s campus. Giles was reportedly notified of the January 26th incident by a counselor, and he now faces misdemeanor charges in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The incident now has lawmakers looking to update a forty year old law dealing with sexual assaults. But first, the committee considered a bill that aims to reign in the receptions lawmakers are invited to while in Charleston for legislative meetings.

House Bill 2022 prohibits certain political fundraising activities for members of the Legislature during certain periods of time before, during, and after the Legislature is in session. It also provides that existing misdemeanor penalties would apply if the law were broken.

Delegate Patrick Lane of Kanawha County is the sponsor of the bill. He says this bill addresses a long standing tradition during annual legislative sessions. That tradition of nightly receptions serving free food and drinks to lawmakers.

“I think the perception is a negative perception, that if we have a fundraising reception for a campaign on Tuesday and then there’s a bill that affects that, some particular industry on Thursday that we vote on, it’s unseemly,” Lane noted, “And I think, in an effort to make sure that there’s trust between the public and the elected officials, I think it’s a pretty simple fix to that, to just say that we as members of the legislature are gonna hold ourselves to a higher standard, and we’re gonna say we are not going to fundraise or accept money from campaign contributions, while we are here making decisions on legislation.”

No action was taken on House Bill 2022 during Thursday morning’s meeting.

The second bill on the agenda was House Bill 2939, relating to requirements for mandatory reporting of sexual offenses on school premises involving students.

“To better explain this, I’m going try and start with a little bit of background; explain what current law is, and then I’ll go into explaining a little bit what the original bill is, and then the reason behind the committee substitute. Since at least 1977, there’s been a reporting requirement for teachers or, in general, reporting of abuse, neglect matters for children; if they’ve been abused or neglect, and that’s defined in chapter 49. The requirements do extend to teachers and school personnel. In particular, the law states that a person over the age of 18, who receives a disclosure from a credible witness or who observes any sexual abuse, or sexual assault of a child, shall immediately, and not more than 48 hours, report that to the police and or to DHHR, Child Protective Services. That’s been the existing law for quite some time. The difficulty is, is when you get into the definitions of sexual abuse or sexual assault. Under existing law, sexual abuse is limited to abuse by parent, guardian, or custodian, so if you connect the dots here, the only reporting requirement that exists for a student that may or may not have been sexually abused on school is if that occurs by the parent, guardian, or custodian. Hence, there’s a little bit of a loophole in the law with respect to reporting requirements. So, taking current scenario under existing law, if you have a situation where an individual who is, a report comes to a teacher that their friend has been sexually assaulted on campus, and it was done say, by another student. Under existing law, there’s no requirement for that teacher to report that incident.” -Marty Wright, Counsel to House Judiciary

Marty Wright, counsel to House Judiciary, explained the bill and the reason the law needed some updating.

The bill brought some major discussion among the delegates, from what counted as inappropriate touching between two high school aged children, to how much a teacher would be held accountable in regard to various situations, or to how far the definition of what counted as school premises reached.

By the end of the meeting, three amendments were proposed that addressed these situations, and the bill was passed unanimously in committee.

House Bill 2939 now goes to the floor for its consideration.