In fundraising for U.S. Senate race, Elliott earns close to Justice for the quarter but remains far behind

Jul. 17—MORGANTOWN — In the race to succeed Joe Manchin in the U.S. Senate, Democrat Glenn Elliott raised nearly as much as Republican Gov. Jim Justice ; but Justice had a bigger pool of money to start with and remains well ahead for total campaign funds.

Justice has two campaign committees: Jim Justice for U.S. Senate, and Justice for WV Senate Republican Nominee Fund.

The first one has the bulk of the funds. For the April-June quarter, it took in a total $190, 779.30 in contributions from individuals and PACs, and received $397, 687.55 in transfers from other committees.

Operating expenditures were $560, 205.73.

The second committee took in $2, 824.97 in contributions and received $133, 108.62 in transfers. It had $7, 232.71 in operating expenditures and transferred $278, 670.02 to Justice's first committee.'

Consolidating the two accounts for the entire election season, Justice had total receipts of $3, 680, 407.90 and incoming transfers of $800, 452.40.

Operating expenditures were $2, 881, 158.09. He ended the quarter with $799, 423.18 cash on hand to go into the July-September quarter.

West Virginia was his top state for contributions, at $886, 340.48.

Following that, the top five others were: Ohio, $166, 527.57 ; Texas, $154, 305 ; New York, $124, 585 ; Minnesota, $120, 900 ; Virginia $101, 657.50.

Elliott completed his second term as Wheeling mayor in June.

His total contributions for the quarter were $126, 854.42 (just shy of $67, 000 less than Justice). His operating expenditures were $121, 755.46. That left him $69, 134.56 cash on hand going into the third quarter ; Justice had 12 times more.

His year-to-date receipts were $252, 261.96 and operating expenditures were $181, 827.40.

West Virginia was also his top state for contributions, at $106, 129.16. Following that were Virginia, $23, 122 ; California, $19, 324.42 ; New York $14, 150.49 ; Maine, $13, 530 ; Ohio $8, 403.27.

Other candidates Justice won a seven-way GOP primary, taking more votes — 61.84 % — than all his opponents combined. His chief competitor was Rep. Alex Mooney, who was aiming to move from the House to the Senate.

Mooney's election season totals were receipts of $2, 277, 380.53 and incoming transfers of $300, 047.81. Operating expenditures of $3, 017, 715.52 left him with $14, 059.49 cash on hand.

His top six contributor states were: Florida, $331, 149.47 ; West Virginia, $172, 798 ; Virginia, $170, 214.12 ; Texas, $154, 382.76 ; California, $153, 315.39 ; Maryland $136, 010.60.

Elliott won a three-way primary with a plurality of the votes: 45.4 %.

Zach Shrewsbury, a Marine Corps veteran and Princeton resident, took second place with 36.14 % of the votes.

He doesn't have a report posted for the April-June quarter. His prior report shows he had total receipts of $295, 678.68 and operating expenditures of $238, 895.94. He finished with $56, 782.74 cash on hand.

His top six states: West Virginia, $13, 311.51 ; Florida $10, 936 ; Massachusetts $8, 027.98 ; New York, $4, 683.99 ; Washington $4, 577 ; Texas $4, 150.

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship — who did prison time for a misdemeanor charge of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws following the 2009 Upper Big Branch mine explosion — took third, at 18.46 %.

His report — his April Quarterly, he doesn't have a July report for the April-June quarter posted — is filled out by hand and is a little hard to navigate because there is no prior report to account for some of the numbers.

It shows a single donation from himself to his campaign account of $1, 000 and no operating expenditures for that quarter.

He reports a prior balance of $100 and an expenditure or $14.70. With no report it's unknown if he gave his campaign the money or what he spent it on.

That put his totals at the end of March at $1, 100 in contributions and expenditures of $14.70, leaving $1, 083. His FEC summary page indicates he received only $1, 000 and spent nothing.

Email: dbead @dominionpost.com