Maine gubernatorial hopefuls empty campaign accounts as June 12 primary nears

6 years ago

AUGUSTA, Maine — The 11 remaining candidates in the June 12 primary to replace the term-limited Gov. Paul LePage are emptying their accounts, spending nearly nine-tenths of the $4.6 million that they raised collectively from private and public sources by this weekend.

Three of the top-tier hopefuls, Republican businessman Shawn Moody and two Democrats, attorney Adam Cote and Attorney General Janet Mills, put $75,000, $36,000 and $19,000, respectively, into their own campaigns during the past 10 days, according to updated filings with the Maine Ethics Commission available on Saturday morning.

Many of the candidates are using this money for last-minute advertising blitzes, with seven of them spending $593,000 on their campaigns between Wednesday and Saturday alone. Moody led in spending over that period, dumping $215,000 mostly into television, radio and mail advertising.

The overall fundraising leader among all candidates in the seven-way Democratic field and the four-person Republican field is Cote, who has raised $978,000 overall. He has spent all but $42,000 of that after expenses that he disclosed to the state through Friday. Since Wednesday, he has spent $135,000 — virtually all of it on TV advertising.

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