Spending Campaign Cash: Chavez vs. Gonzalez in HD 76 (El Paso)

From Texans for Public Justice, here are the fundraising, spending and cash on hand totals in the HD 76 (El Paso) race as of the 8-day out reports:

District

Candidate

Party

Status*

Total Raised

Total Spent

Cash On Hand

76	Chavez, Norma	DEM	I	$217,796	$113,165	$37,918
76	Gonzalez, Naomi R.	DEM	C	$145,609	$10,845	$13,255
76	San Roman, Antonio	DEM	C	$1,714	$1,217	$0

There have been additional donations to the incumbent, Democrat Norma Chavez, since the 8-day out:

$1000 Woody Hunt

$20,000 Texans for Insurance Reform (in-kind media buy)

$1000 from Eli Lilly and Company PAC

$1000 Greenberg Traurig PAC

$1000 HeartPlace PAC

$2000 Greg LaMantia (in-kind media buy)

$2500 Medical Defense PAC

$2000 Pete Gallego campaign (in-kind media buy)

$1000 TCACC HEARTPAC

$1000 TSA PAC

$1000 American Holdings, LLC PAC

$3000 Texas State Teachers Association PAC

$1000 Farmers Employees and Agent PAC

$1500 Gene and Linda McKenzie

$1000 Marc Rodriguez

$1000 Texas Association of Realtors (TREPACE)

$672 Texas Medical Association PAC (in-kind newspaper ad)

$2000 AT&T Texas PAC

$1000 Carmark RX Employees PAC

$1000 Juan Castro Campaign

That's approximately $45,000 in donations in the last days of the campaign. You can view Chavez' negative ad on Gonzalez on the main page of her website. It's an 80-20 ad. 80% negative on Gonzalez, saying that 85% of her contributions come from Republicans, and that El Paso needs a REAL Democrat. 20% positive on Chavez.

Challenger Naomi Gonzalez' donations after the 8-day out report all come from one source - the tort reformers (Republicans) - Texans for Lawsuit Reform:

$30,000 in kind media

$6850 in-kind mail

$4000 in-kind video production

$5200 in-kind consulting services

You can see a Gonzalez TV spot at this link. It's a straight negative against Chavez - accusing her of missing votes to attend school, and getting special interests to pay for her graduation party. That's sort of a lot of bull when you are getting one special interest - tort reformers - to pay for your ad and mail (to the tune of around $46,000.)

San Roman has less than $800 in additional donations since the 8-day outs. He seems to be a non-entity, except . . . . as a spoiler who could send Chavez and Gonzalez into a runoff. According to a recent El Paso Times poll, either candidate could win the election out right or San Roman's small piece could mean neither candidate gets 50% on Tuesday, triggering a runoff.

Sounds like wild times in El Paso, with traditional Democratic funders lining up behind the one-time Craddick D (and recipient of TLR funds), Chavez.

You can check out all the details of their campaign finance reports on the Texas Ethics Commission website. Watch election returns for this race, and all the other ones around the state, on the Texas Secretary of State website.