It’s a good time to be a Republican running for office in Oktibbeha County.
The latest round of campaign finance reports shows the local GOP gave $400 to nine of 10 candidates in contested countywide races.
District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery, District 3 supervisor candidate Denny Daniels, District 4 supervisor candidate Bricklee Miller, Circuit Clerk Glenn Hamilton, coroner candidate Chris Pollan, Tax Assessor Allen Morgan, District 1 Justice Court judge candidate Buddy Johnston and District 3 constable candidate Tim Cook each received the allotment during the July 1-Sept. 30 reporting period, documents show.
The 10th GOP candidate, sheriff nominee George Carrithers, did not report receiving any itemized contributions from the same timeframe.
Even attorney Rob Roberson, who is the GOP’s nominee for the District 43 House of Representatives race, reported receiving the $400 contribution from the local party, while the latest campaign finance reports for state Sen. Gary Jackson, a Republican who faces a re-election battle against former state lawmaker Cecil Simmons, a Democrat, was unavailable on the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website.
Both Daniels and Hamilton donated about $400 each to the Mississippi State University College Republicans student group.
Chris Taylor, Oktibbeha County Democratic Party chairman, says his organization is not planning on funding any local candidates’ races and will invest the money it expects to receive from the state party in poll watchers and get-out-the-vote initiatives on Election Day.
High-profile GOP members backing Roberson
A look at Roberson’s itemized campaign receipts hints at the Republican Party regrouping and coming back to support the former state lawmaker after August’s GOP primary.
While his Oct. 9 report shows donations from Friends of Phil Bryant ($500) and Republican state Rep. Gary Chism ($1,000), even the man Roberson defeated to represent the party in the District 43 race, Mac Smith, gave $1,000 to his campaign shortly after the election.
In all, Roberson has raised and spent about $25,000 this election cycle.
His November opponent, fellow Starkville attorney Paul Millsaps, has raised almost $18,000 and spent about $6,000.
Millsaps’ Oct. 8 filing shows he is entering the homestretch of the campaign with almost $11,500 in his war chest.
Haug, Miller lead in local earnings, expenses
Of the 21 candidates in active campaigns — those with opponents — only District 3’s Democratic nominee for justice court judge, C. Martin Haug, has broken the $10,000 mark in terms of year-to-date contributions.
Haug, who faces Johnston and independent Hardy Mitchell in November, has raised $10,544 this cycle, documents show. His opponents, however, have reported raising a combined $3,400.
Haug’s spending of $9,981.10 this year is only trumped by Miller, who leads all active candidates with a combined $17,800.97 in year-to-date expenses, her campaign finance report states.
Miller reported raising $4,700 so far this year, while her opponent, incumbent Democrat Daniel Jackson, reported earning no campaign contributions so far this cycle.
Combined, the 21 active candidates have raised a reported $51,528.05 this year and spent a reported $64,750.75.
Those figures do not include the most recent totals from circuit clerk candidate E. Regina Evans — her October filing did not include a year-to-date total — and incumbent District 3 Constable James Lindsey, a Democrat whose filing was unavailable Monday.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.