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.
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.
SPRINGFIELD—Since filing a pair of reports earlier this month, Hispanic Latino Leaders Now Independent Expenditure PAC (HLLN), has been busy. The SuperPAC, with a stated mission of electing Latinos and flush with cash from home care executive Cesar Ruiz, has begun to move into this year’s elections.
Thanks to his reelection war chest’s sheer size and robust monthly fundraising, Domenic Sarno still has the most money among Springfield mayoral candidates. Yet, his monthly burn rate has reached nearly $50,000. Money is not the only campaign finance story in June, though.
Patterns that began to emerge in April campaign finance reports for the Springfield mayoral race came into clearer focus in May. Incumbent Domenic Sarno took back the top fundraiser spot, but his monster spending put him into a deficit while two of his challengers kept building their reserves.
Challengers to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno enjoyed some brisk fundraising as the race itself picks up speed. While May reports, which will be due in a few days, should show whether candidates can maintain this pace, the April numbers could alter some of the assumptions about the money race.
As the mayoral race in Springfield inches closer to the September preliminary, much of the campaign still has something of an unreality. There are four major declared candidates, each holding office and there are moves worth watching in the money race.
The opposition to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has been busy. They have little choice to be otherwise given Sarno’s advantages. It is no surprise that aside from squirreling away campaign funds, Sarno has barely campaigned.
That may be changing. Fitfully but notably, the incumbent has begun to heave himself onto the stump.
BELCHERTOWN—Kim Driscoll has a line while stumping for lieutenant governor in which she acknowledged she is not “the hometown gal.”
“But I really do care about hometowns and the strength of communities, and making sure they have the assets and tools they need to impact the quality of life in a favorable way,” she told WMP&I.
Echoing recent LG’s role, Driscoll has invested heavily into the narrative of lieutenant governors as municipal liaison in her bid to become Maura Healey’s running mate on the Democratic ticket.
SPRINGFIELD—Amid a tight battle for his party’s nomination for lieutenant governor, Senator Eric Lesser received the endorsement of the region’s most senior elected official, US Representative Richard E. Neal, framed by Union Station.