Fundraising strong for open House seat

One of the Republican candidates for the open state House District 30 seat says she has raised nearly $55,000 to date.

Esther Helton is competing with Jonathan Mason in the GOP primary for the seat. Helton has raised $54,814, compared to just more than $10,000 for Mason. After first-quarter expenditures, Helton had $46,516.78 to Mason’s $6,837.56, according to Tennessee Registry of Election Finance records.

The lone Democrat in the race, Joda Thongnopnua, has raised $34,325 in cash to date and said his first-quarter receipts of $26,325 outpaced the $14,200 she brought in.

Thongnopnua said the total “puts him within striking distance of his Republican opposition and sets records for Democratic fundraising figures in the district.”

Vincent Butler, Helton’s campaign consultant, said she front-loaded her fundraising late last year so as not to compete with candidates in county primaries.

Helton is a nurse and serves on the East Ridge City Council. Thongnopnua is executive director of the Metro Ideas Project, a nonprofit urban policy startup that works on municipal issues.

Mason is a client specialist at Unum who has worked on several other Republican candidates’ political campaigns and is active in the YMCA.

The district includes portions of Apison, Brainerd, Collegedale, East Brainerd, East Lake, East Ridge, Missionary Ridge and Ooltewah.