Eight Starkville residents running for four aldermen seats have raised about $28,000 since Jan. 1, campaign finance reports filed Tuesday show.
The latest round of filings were submitted by all but one of the nine candidates still in competitive races set for the June 6 general election.
Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn, who is seeking a third term, failed to submit the mandatory document to City Hall by 5 p.m.
Tuesday was the deadline for the pre-general election report, which covers campaign donations and expenditures from Jan. 1 through May 27. Those who filed pre-May 2 primary reports, which covered Jan. 1 through April 22, were allowed to report receipts and disbursements recorded after April 23.
Candidates who fail to file or fail to timely file required reports cannot be certified as elected or receive salary until all reports are received, the document states.
Pre-election reports are mandatory, even if no campaign donations or expenditures occurred during the reporting period.
Ward 1
Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver and his opponent, Christine Williams, have raised a combined $10,660 this year, their campaign finance reports show.
The incumbent, a Republican, edged his Democratic challenger in year-to-date receipts, but most of his reported $5,930 came ahead of his Ward 1 GOP primary against Jason Camp.
Carver’s pre-primary report states he raised $4,730 before the election, while his latest filing shows he secured an additional $1,200 since.
The only itemized contribution listed in his report is a $500 donation from Tom Smith, of Tom Smith Land and Homes, which was reported in his April 25 filling.
His Tuesday filing claims $1,200 of non-itemized spending, which is equal to the amount of money he raised in the reporting window. The incumbent’s April 25 filing also claimed a balanced amount of income and expenses.
Carver is walking into election day with no on-hand campaign cash, his filing states.
Williams has raised $4,080.93 this year and spent $1,800.88 so far on her campaign. She reported having $2,280.05 ready to spend on the campaign in its final stretch.
Williams’ itemized receipts include contributions from former Mayor Dan Camp ($300) and Mississippi State University professor Meghan Millea ($240).
Carver works for Insurance Associates, and Williams is a graduate teaching and research assistant at the MSU Department of Political Science and Public Administration.
Ward 2
Ward 2’s three-candidate race has yielded $12,776 in campaign donations this year, filings state.
Incumbent Lisa Wynn, who is mounting an independent bid, leads the pack with $8,517 in receipts since Jan. 1. She is trailed by Democrat Sandra Sistrunk’s $3,259 in contributions and Republican Jesse Carver’s $1,000 in receipts.
Five donors — Pritchard Engineering ($250), Gladney Construction of Eupora ($1,000), MC and J Investment LLC of West Point ($1,000), Pine Belt Inc. of Carrollton ($500) and LMK Enterprise of Collierville, Tennessee ($1,000) — provided $3,750 of the $6,517 listed in the itemized receipts portion of Wynn’s Tuesday filing, while Pontotoc attorney Walter Zinn is noted as providing an unrecorded amount of in-kind services.
Her April 25 report listed Alabama resident Gerrall Wynn as donating $2,000 to her campaign.
Itemized donors are not listed on Jesse Carver’s and Sistrunk’s Tuesday filings, and Sistrunk did not report any donations above the $200 threshold in her April 25 report. Jesse Carver did not file a pre-primary report in April, as he was not required to since he did not face a challenge for the Republican ticket.
While Wynn led in contributions, Sistrunk leads the field in year-to-date expenses with $4,250.83, followed by the incumbent ($3,355.05) and Jesse Carver ($598.28).
Wynn reported having $4,054 on-hand; Sistrunk’s filing states she has $1,055.17 ready to spend; and Jesse Carver’s war chest has about $400 remaining to be spent in the last days of the campaign.
Jesse Carver works as an agent with the New York Life Insurance Company; Sistrunk served one term as Ward 2’s alderman before Wynn unseated her in 2013; and Wynn is seeking her second term.
Ward 4
The two Ward 4 candidates — Pete Ledlow and Jason Walker — have brought in about $4,000 in combined campaign contributions this year.
While neither Ledlow nor Walker filed pre-primary reports — neither was required to since they did not face a challenge in May — Tuesday’s reports give Walker ($2,000) a $25 edge in donations over Ledlow ($1,975).
While Ledlow’s report shows he’s provided about half of his campaign’s funding through two personal loans in March, Walker’s filing shows spring donations from Dan Camp Family Real Estate LLC ($300) and Camp Brothers Real Estate LLC ($500).
No other itemized receipts were reported in either of the two candidates’ filings.
Walker has spent $1,096.85 on his campaign this year and has $903.15 on hand, while Ledlow has spent $903.50 since Jan. 1 and is walking into the last days of this year’s election cycle with $1,071.50 in his war chest.
Ledlow, a Republican, owns Pete’s Transmission, while Walker, a Democrat seeking his second term in office, is an associate professor in the MSU Department of Landscape Architecture.
Ward 7
Roben Dawkins’ bid for the Ward 7 post is mostly self-funded, as his report shows $1,421.36 of the $1,621.36 he raised this year came from a personal loan to his campaign.
He has spent $1,229.36 since Jan. 1, and a majority of that total — $1,119.36 — went toward yard signs, push cards and other signage. He also has $392 on-hand.
Dawkins, a Republican, works as a senior pilot at the MSU Flight Department.
Vaughn, a Democrat, was first elected in 2009.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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