Fortune put the date of the 2023 election on the second-latest possible date. That allowed time for one more round of campaign finance reports in the Springfield mayoral race. In October Mayor Domenic Sarno outraised his rival, at-large Councilor Justin Hurst, reversing a lag from the prior months.
The allegations of vote-buying occurring right outside Springfield City Hall have dropped a hand grenade into a historic but quiet municipal election. It has set off a wave of condemnation, conspiracies and snickering across Springfield and within its political class.
In what could be their only general election outing, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno jousted with at-large City Councilor Justin Hurst in a debate WWLP aired Monday. The faceoff featured a range of issues from crime to the equitable distribution of resources.
As the Springfield mayoral race lumbered into October, the campaign cash dash was barely at a trot. Piles of money and late heat in the campaign propelled at-large Councilor Justin Hurst and Mayor Domenic Sarno past the September 12 preliminary. Yet, neither showed a surge of activity many had expected ahead of the final confrontation on November 7.
Springfield City Councilor Justin Hurst has collected several high-profile endorsements since becoming the sole surviving challenger to Mayor Domenic Sarno. After comfortably emerging from last week’s preliminary in second place, Hurst earned the endorsement of two of his challengers and now Senator Adam Gomez.
The Hispanic Latino Leaders Now Independent Expenditure PAC (HLLN) upended the electoral mood, if not the results, when it began spending thousands of dollars to boost Latino candidates, including State Rep Orlando Ramos, who failed to advance in the race against Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno.
SPRINGFIELD—Mayor Domenic Sarno and City Councilor Justin Hurst’s advancement to the mayoral preliminary was the result the city’s chattering classes had been expecting for nearly a year. However, a reductionist understanding of what happened risks missing real lessons in the wake of the election.
Sitting on a massive pile of campaign cash, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno entered August with the most money and began this month with the most. Yet, August also saw Sarno dropping at least $130,000 to buy ads on television and radio.
SPRINGFIELD—In what could be the full mayoral field’s last outing, the candidates to lead the City of Homes sparred over crime and economic development. Incumbent Domenic Sarno tried to swipe at his opponents, but faceplanted.
The July-August stretch of the Springfield mayoral campaign may become one of the most pivotal from the campaign finance perspective. It was in July that adult care mogul Cesar Ruiz deposited 100 large into a SuperPAC. Mayor Domenic Sarno also had his biggest haul since his massive December fundraising.