LR candidates in mayor’s race raise thousands

Sabin, Kurrus, Scott lead in pre-election finance reports

A week out from the election, Warwick Sabin leads the field in recent fundraising in the Little Rock mayor’s race with Baker Kurrus a close second.

According to campaign-finance reports due to the Pulaski County clerk’s office Tuesday night, Sabin has received $357,178.25 in contributions since June 1. Kurrus reported raising $324,999 during the same period, which is about 10 percent less.

Of the four out of five candidates who submitted pre-election reports, Frank Scott Jr. came in third in monetary contributions, raising $229,893.14 since July 1.

Glen Schwarz, whose latest report covers the period beginning Aug. 16 and was filed Sept. 20, did not report any campaign contributions. Vincent Tolliver had not submitted a report to the clerk’s office a few minutes before the deadline.

The candidates are running to replace Mayor Mark Stodola, who chose not to run for re-election and leaves office in January. Early voting is in progress, and Election Day is Tuesday.

In addition to reporting the most money raised during the period outlined in Tuesday’s report, Sabin, a Democratic state representative from Little Rock, also outspent other candidates, reporting expenditures of $333,993.53 with a remaining balance of $23,184.72.

Although Sabin had raised more money than Kurrus, a former state-appointed Little Rock School District superintendent, Kurrus’ lower reported expenditures of $273,442 during the period mean he’ll have the most cash on hand — $51,557 — entering the final days of the race.

Scott, vice president of

First Security Bank, also will have larger campaign reserves than Sabin, reporting expenditures of $195,580.62 for a remaining balance of $34,312.52.

Sabin said his fundraising reflected people who were “excited and energized” about his campaign.

“They want to see change and progress, and they’re willing to invest in the effort to make that happen,” he said.

Kurrus was at an event Tuesday night and was unavailable to comment on the filings before deadline, said Simon Lee, a consultant on his campaign.

When reached by phone, Scott said he was “extremely proud and excited by the

resources [his] campaign had raised.” He said his campaign’s cash reserves would go toward get-out-the-vote efforts.

Sabin campaign treasurer Cale Turner noted that the summary page of Tuesday’s report does not break out contributions and expenditures from the exploratory committee that was formed in July 2017, according to documents available on the Pulaski County clerk’s website.

Between the exploratory committee and the campaign, the total raised for Sabin was $426,790.68 with expenditures of $403,605.96, Turner said.

A final report on the Pulaski County clerk’s website said an exploratory committee for Scott raised a cumulative total of $141,397.

Lee said Kurrus did not make use of an exploratory committee and “followed

the city ordinance and started the campaign on June 1,” referring to a Little Rock ordinance that bars candidates from collecting funds before that date. He speculated that Kurrus may have raised the most money in the campaign proper, though he had not yet seen the reports.

Tolliver said in an email that he was checking with his campaign’s finance director for more information about the filing expected last night.

Marijuana activist Schwarz reported expenditures of $6 through Sept. 20.

In a brief phone interview, he said he had difficulty finding out when the deadlines were for campaign-finance filings but had spent an overall total of $25, with no contributions to report.

“Nobody has given me a nickel for this campaign … Money does not buy votes,” he said.