Governor’s race broke Pennsylvania campaign spending record

HARRISBURG >> Spending in Pennsylvania’s 2022 gubernatorial race blew past the record set eight years ago, topping $110 million largely because of Democrat Josh Shapiro’s powerhouse fundraising in a race that took on national significance.

That beat the $82 million spent in the 2014 election in Pennsylvania.

Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s two-term elected attorney general, won the Nov. 8 election and will be sworn in Jan. 17.

He reported spending more than $73 million in the race, including donations of cash, goods and services. That easily topped the 20-yearold mark for an individual of campaign of $42 million, set by Democrat Ed Rendell in 2002.

Campaign finance reports for the last two weeks of the campaign were due Thursday to the state elections office. Pennsylvania does not limit the amount of donations by an individual, although it prohibits donations by corporations.

Republicans spent another $37 million, mostly in a fractious primary won by state Sen. Doug Mastriano. That includes $13 million on a losing candidate spent by political action committees that are a conduit for campaign cash from billionaire investor Jeffrey Yass.

Mastriano reported spending just over $7 million.

Shapiro’s biggest donor was the Democratic Governors Association, giving at least $7.2 million.

Labor unions kicked in more than $11.5 million, while a wide variety of business people donated from sectors including health care, tech, insurance, law firms, real estate development and transportation.

A pair of wealthy Democratic Party donors from California gave seven figures: Jennifer Duda who gave $3 million and Karla Jurvetson who gave $1.5 million.

Philanthropist and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and tech entrepreneur Bill Harris Jr. each gave at least $1 million.

Among the several dozen people or families who each gave six figures were tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman; Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker; Philadelphia Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie; Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper; Fanatics founder Michael Rubin; filmmaker Steven Spielberg; billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros; and Erie Indemnity Co. chairman Thomas Hagen.