Incumbents rule: Latest data on New Mexico Senate fundraising

New Mexico candidates reported campaign fundraising and spending through July 2 on July 7. They won’t file again until Sept. 12.

New Mexico In Depth mapped state Senate candidates by the amount of cash they have in the bank, and added data about amount of funds they’ve raised and spent over two years (2015-2016). The bank balances also include cash they had on hand at the beginning of 2015.

Scroll over the map to get details of each Senate race. (We’ll get to the House races tomorrow.)

Here are a few observations:

• Incumbents rule. They account for 75 percent or more of the money raised, spent, loaned and still in the bank.
• Democrats are leading Senate candidate fundraising with $1.7 million to more than $985,000 for Republicans. Dems also have spent more and have more cash in the bank.
• Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez leads all candidates with more than $208,000 raised in the last two years, and $108,000 spent. He also leads with money in the bank at the beginning of the month with nearly $125,000. His District 29 GOP opponent, Gregory Baca, of Belen, has loaned his campaign almost $10,000, raised more than $59,000 and spent only about $13,000. That leaves him with more than $55,000 in the bank, but that’s less than half of Sanchez’s cash.
• Albuquerque’s District 9 is the most competitive Senate race, when it comes to money. Incumbent Democratic Sen. John Sapien has raised more than $105,000, while his GOP opponent Diego Espinoza has raised more than $84,000. But the cash-on-hand gap is narrower: Sapien ended the filing period with nearly $73,000 while Espinoza had more than $68,000.
• Incumbents in uncontested races are raising loads of money. Of the 42 Senate seats, 27 are uncontested. Incumbents in those seats have raised more than $1 million and spent nearly $737,000. Leading the way is Democratic Sen. George Munoz, of Gallup, with more than $138,000 raised in the last two years, followed by Senate Majority Whip Michael Padilla, of Albuquerque, with nearly $109,000 raised and Democratic Sen. Peter Wirth, of Santa Fe, with more than $103,000 raised. Meanwhile, on the GOP side, Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, of Portales has raised more than $94,000 and has more than $88,000 in the bank.
• Winner of the “non-big-spender” award is Charles Wendell, a Las Cruces Republican challenging Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen in District 38. Wendell has raised $2,050 to Papen’s more than $63,4000. He’s spent only $144 to her more than $31,000. And he has $1,900 in the bank, to Papen’s $47,000.

And some caveats: These numbers may not necessarily add up, or match those on the Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance Information System totals. Here’s why:

• Contributions in our data include in-kind donations, i.e. supplies or services others donated to a campaign. Those aren’t included in the Secretary of State’s contribution sums.
• Loans are broken out separately here, because they are often loans by the candidate to themselves. On the Secretary of State’s site, they’re included in contributions data.
• This data encompasses all filings in 2015 and 2016. Some of the contributions and spending for incumbent senators includes money from late 2014 and through 2015.
• Many incumbents may have balances that appear larger than their total contributions. The cash on hand reflects money incumbents had in the bank before the first 2015 filing date.

And here’s a table with the data:

[table id=38 /]