RI candidates with biggest war chest

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - The numbers are in. Candidates seeking statewide office have filed their quarterly campaign finance reports with the Rhode Island Board of Elections.

Eyewitness News has combed the reports to bring you a snapshot of the candidate’s political war chest.

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Keep in mind, these figures are a month old; the just-filed reports represent monies raised and spent from April to June 30. The reports were due to state officials on August 2.

If a candidate missed the deadline, we did not include them in the tally.

 

Candidates for Governor

• Frank T. Caprio (D) $1,739,005.10
• Lincoln D. Chafee (I) $420,044.42
• Kenneth J. Block (M) $203,991.44
• John F. Robitaille (R) $40,856.78
• Victor G. Moffitt (R) $16,895.82

• Patrick Lynch (D)* $634,871.10

*(Lynch withdrew from the Governor’s race but filed an updated report)

Lieutenant Governor

• Elizabeth H. Roberts (D) $449,755.23
• Jeremy A. Kapstein (D) $12,608.44
• Robert J. Healey Jr.(I) $0.00

Attorney General

• Joseph M. Fernandez (D) $229,467.96
• Stephen R. Archambault (D) $190,066.44
• Peter F. Kilmartin (D) $180,821.71
• Christopher H. Little (M) $60,441.65
• Erik B. Wallin (R) $35,783.07

General Treasurer

• Gina M. Raimondo (D) $695,242.12
• Kernan F. King (R) $22,782.07

Secretary of State

• A. Ralph Mollis (D) $70,815.51
• Leonidas P. Raptakis (D) $29,895.25

A couple of interesting headlines from these numbers:

-Democratic candidate for General Treasurer Gina Raimondo has more in her campaign’s war chest than all but one gubernatorial candidate. It’s important to note she loaned her campaign $100,000 to bring the total to nearly $700,000. But she was able to raise an impressive $200,000+ in the last quarter for an office that often doesn’t generate a lot of excitement.

-We were a little surprised that Democrat for Attorney General Stephen Archambault had a slightly stronger tally ($190K) than long-time state rep and AG challenger Peter Kilmartin ($180K). But to put these numbers into perspective, Kilmartin raised more money in the last quarter ($66,000 to Archambault's $41,000) and Archambault has loaned his campaign $126,000 since he threw his hat into the ring.

-We included Patrick Lynch’s figures to show you how much money he was able to raise despite grim polling. We contacted his folks to find out what he plans to do with all that cash on hand. For now, his people say Lynch plans on keeping the money in the campaign account and filing his quarterly reports like every other law-abiding candidate. A nice jump start if he ever decided to run for office again.

-Though Democrat Frank Caprio has a commanding fiscal lead over his Independent challenger Lincoln Chafee , don’t fret for the former Senator too much. Chafee has a large pool of personal wealth he can easily tap into, as he has in the past (reports show he has already loaned himself more than $300,000). On a recent taping of Newsmakers, Chafee did tell us it’s been a tough year to fundraise. Caprio was also forced to be more aggressive with his fundraising as he was expecting a primary challenger. With Lynch dropping out, Caprio can breathe easier through September.

Nadine Grimley contributed to this report.

twhite@wpri.com