State Rep. Patrick Williams leads the way with
money raised. He has presented himself as an outsider to current Shreveport
city government, and even though he is a Democrat was able months ago to secure
pledges
of support from some prominent Republican activists and officeholders. His donor
base matches the eclectic nature of his public endorsements.
On his September submission
(which does not actually list him as running for mayor but for reelection,
which allows him to charge expenses for that office, repeated on his October one,) are some of the usual
suspects, such as nursing home and medical interests, black Democrat activists
and officeholders, trial lawyers, unions, and leftist interest groups. But a
couple of Republican officeholders appear as well as some GOP activists, and
some local newspapermen. Perhaps most notably are remnants of the white
Democrat power structure that last controlled city government under the aegis
of former Mayor Keith Hightower.
Former Caddo Parish School
District Superintendent Ollie
Tyler has seemed to have drawn verbal support from allies of the outgoing Mayor
Cedric Glover
administration, and her submission
tends to confirm that backing. Her donors include people representing interests
that deal with the city, people active in community affairs that typically have
donated to Democrats, and a number of individuals (unsurprisingly) connected to
the education field. However, while the names of several black Democrat
activists appear, few special interests typically allied with Democrats show
up.
City Councilman Sam Jenkins was
believed to have represented the Glover faction until he declared he could not
commit to a campaign, only to change his mind close to qualifying. As such, he
raised little in the way of money, and even adding in his accumulated
council total, at under $30,000 available through the first nine months of 2014
he now suffers a tremendous disadvantage relative to Williams and Tyler, both
of whom raised around $150,000 in the same period and Williams additionally has
loans, mostly from himself, representing about as much again as he raised. In the first half of October he hardly raised any money at all, and spent most on a trip to Houston and on employing canvassers.
Finally, the only major white and
non-Democrat candidate in the race, independent Victoria Provenza, also has not
raised a large sum of money, the amount being close to what Jenkins had
available, although the campaign has emphasized social media interactions.
Aside from an elected official and a few frequent givers in the past to more
conservative candidates, the list
of donors is not replete with the kinds of activists seen forking over to Williams
and Tyler, although interestingly the proportion of in-kind donations for campaign
activities for her is far higher than any other major candidate’s.
As to what these reports signal,
regardless of the degree of eclecticism in Williams’ support, he appears to be
attracting traditional and institutional Democrat interests that extends to the
statewide level as well. By contrast, Tyler’s support seems more concentrated
in Shreveport interests and more connected to current city government. Jenkins
does not seem to be making much headway, while Provenza is clearly an outsider
that could rally those not affiliated with or are disenchanted by the traditional
centers of power for Democrats, which is a substantial base.
Without independent and reliable polling
data available to confirm, by these numbers it appears that Jenkins is becoming
marginalized, which is to Tyler’s advantage and to the disadvantage of Williams
and Provenza, as Jenkins’ political affiliations most closely match those of
Tyler. As October progressed it appeared that Tyler’s and Provenza’s chances have increased to make arunoff, while Williams’
chances of making that runoff have decreased. Tuesday, it appears to be
any of these three could grab the pair of available Dec. 6 spots.
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