The four candidates vying for the District 17 Mississippi Senate seat during Tuesday’s general election had a combined $33,001 in campaign contributions at their disposal.
The two top vote getters who advanced to a Nov. 25 runoff, Bobby Patrick and Chuck Younger, received $22,502 between them, campaign finance reports filed to the Secretary of State’s office show.
Patrick received the most out of all four with $14,917 as of Oct. 30. He received money from 40 contributors, one of which included Mississippi House Rep. Gary Chism. Chism, who represents District 37, which includes territory in Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha counties, donated $200 to Patrick’s campaign.
Younger’s filing shows he received $7,585 in contributions for the special election through late October. Eight parties donated toward his campaign.
Patrick’s Oct. 27 filing shows he had spent $7,102.98 of the $13,665 he had, leaving him with $6,562. An additional $1,252 he reports receiving in an Oct. 30 filing added to the balance reported three days before totals $7,814 cash on hand as of that day.
Younger reported spending $7,294 of his finances on campaign materials, leaving him with $290.17 left in cash as of Oct. 24.
The two candidates who did not advance were Bill Gavin and Bill Canon. Gavin had raised $2,500 as of Oct. 28, $1,334 of which was spent.
The latest filing with the Secretary of State’s office from Canon, who previously held the District 17 post until 2003, is dated Jan. 21, 2014. At the time, he reported having $7,999 cash in hand. Canon told The Dispatch Tuesday he spent all the leftover campaign money he had.
The District 17 special election will ultimately decide who replaces the late Terry Brown for next year’s legislative term. Neither Patrick nor Younger garnered 50 percent plus one of the vote, however, necessitating the runoff.
Unofficial results with absentee votes show Younger finished with 5,038 votes, or 41.7 percent, in the 19 Lowndes County precincts voting in the race. Patrick finished second with 3,120 votes, or 25.85 percent.
Younger, 51, has farmed and ranched in Lowndes and Monroe counties for more than 30 years. Patrick, 68, retired in 2011 after nearly 40 years as an insurance agent.
The only contested Circuit Court Judge race was between incumbent Lee Coleman and Monique Montgomery. Coleman retained his seat by getting 18,791 votes to Montgomery’s 12,043, according to unofficial results.
Coleman’s finance report dated Oct. 27 states he received $3,350 in campaign contributions between Oct. 1 and the filing date. However, that was in addition to an additional $51,732 raised between Jan. 1 and Oct. 1. From Oct. 1-27, he spent $6,307 on campaign materials but spent $46,061.53 this year.
Montgomery’s report dated Oct. 10 states that she received $2,675 in contributions from July 1 to Sept. 30 and spent $2,644.33. There was no filing for the time period from Oct. 1-25.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.