Gov. Larry Hogan and his Democratic challenger, Ben Jealous, have filed their final campaign finance reports before the Nov. 6 general election. The reports cover the period between Aug. 22 and Oct. 21 — the heart of the campaign season.
The reports, which were due at midnight Friday, don’t just disclose how the two campaigns raise money. They also spell out how they spent it.
Here’s a look at some of the numbers from the reports:
» $3,295,928: That’s the amount of money Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford had in hand to run their campaign in its final weeks, through early voting (Oct. 25 to Nov. 1) and Election Day (Nov. 6).
» $271,339: What Jealous and running mate Susan Turnbull had in hand.
» 100-to-1: In politics, you have to spend money to raise money. During the past two months, Hogan spent more than $675,000 to drum up contributions. Jealous spent $6,490.
» $6,384,584: That’s the amount Hogan spent on media — mostly on bringing you a constant stream of TV ads you’ve been seeing extolling his record over the last four years. That’s roughly twice what Democrat Anthony Brown spent in 2014 and three times what Hogan spent in that year’s gubernatorial contest. Not seeing as much from Jealous? That’s because he spent only $1,023,667.
» $0: Not seeing any fliers from Ben Jealous in the mail? That’s because he had no direct mail campaign spending. Hogan, meanwhile, spent $141,488 reaching in to voters’ mailboxes. Hogan also spent more than $800,000 on printing to less than $43,000 for Jealous.
» 49 percent: That’s the percentage of money the Jealous-Turnbull slate raised from out-of-state sources, capitalizing on Jealous’ national prominence as a former NAACP chief and Turnbull’s Democratic Party connections. Turnbull actually raised more from California than from Maryland, as Jealous did during the primary. Hogan raised 87 percent of his funds from Maryland addresses.
» $18,000: Combined donations of affiliates of the Laborers’ International Union of North America to Hogan. Four years ago, the union lent Brown $500,000 in an attempt to stave off the Hogan surge.
» $6,000: That’s the maximum an individual or a company can give to a single campaign in Maryland. Jealous and Turnbull combined actually raised more in $6,000 donations during the period than Hogan, $306,000 to $264,000.