Ward Councilor candidates raise $87,930 heading into September 12 Preliminary Election [updated]

The six candidates competing in the September preliminary races on September 12 have reported to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) raising a total of $86,930 as of September 6. The tables below summarize funds reported raised by each candidate to OCPF along with the total number of donors and the proportion of donations coming from within their immediate local family, their ward, Newton, and elsewhere.

Ward Councilors are elected by the ward they reside in and vote on issues facing all of Newton; thus the amount raised within their wards and Newton may be of interest to voters. In several cases, candidates and their immediate families have contributed significant amounts to campaigns. These amounts have been broken out separately from the ward and Newton totals.

This analysis reports separately the total funding from the candidates and their immediate family members residing in their ward. Dan Gaynor did not donate or loan funds to his campaign but received $3,000 from his spouse and parents on Cabot Street. David Micley loaned $3,000 to his campaign, donated $1050, and received a $1000 donation from his mother. Peter Bruce loaned $2,000 to his campaign and received $1,000 from his spouse. Martha Bixby and Mark Holt donated $540 and $100 respectively to their campaigns. Lisa Gordon received $1,000 from her mother.

Fundraising

Name	Raised	Donors	Self & Ward-resident immediate Family	Ward	Newton	Rest
Gaynor	$37,395	158	$3,000	$2,200	$5,200	$29,195
Micley	$15,849	83	$5,050	$2,597	$4,211	$6,588
Gordon	$7,825	24	$1000	$2,400	$6,575	$1,250
Holt	$100	1	$100	$0	$0	0
Bixby	$13,144	71	$540	$4,480	$6,580	$6,024
Bruce	$13,617	71	$3,000	$4,975	$9,300	$1,317

• Dan Gaynor leads the six candidates in total funds raised ($37,395), total donors (158), and percentage raised outside of Newton (78.1%) while trailing in percentage raised within a candidate’s ward (5.9%).
• David Micley has raised $15,849 and leads in the amount that a candidate and ward-residing family contributed/loaned to their own campaign ($5,050).
• Lisa Gordon has raised $7,825 and began 2023 with $1,079 from her 2021 campaign for City Council (not included in this total). She received 30.7% of her funds from within Ward 6 and 74% from within Newton. These data were adjusted to include Lisa’s mother.
• Peter Bruce is second among the candidates in total fundraising at $13,617 reported raised, with 36.5% from Ward 2 and 68.3% from within Newton. He has reported the most from Newton ($9,300). Bruce has the most donors in a candidate’s ward (38) and in the rest of Newton (25). These totals were updated on September 6 when Bruce completed August data entry. OCPF guidelines call for data entry by the 5th of the month for the previous month.
• Martha Bixby has raised $13,144 from 71 donors and was second highest in the percentage of outside-of-Newton fundraising (45.8%).
• Mark Holt explained to Martina Jackson of Fig City News that he has held off raising and spending funds until now as he just got his EIN, bank account, and campaign website in place. He filed his statement of organization on September 1.

Name	Self and Ward-resident immediate family%	Ward%	Newton%	Rest%
Gaynor	8.0%	5.9%	13.9%	78.1%
Micley	31.9%	16.4%	26.6%	41.6%
Gordon	12.8%	30.7%	71.2%	16.0%
Holt	100%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Bixby	4.1%	34.1%	50.1%	45.8%
Bruce	22.0%	36.5%	68.3%	9.7%

Recipient	Total Donors	Total in Ward	Total in Rest of Newton
Daniel Gaynor	158	11	17
David Micley	83	17	20
Martha Bixby	71	29	17
Peter Bruce	71	38	25
Lisa R.T. Gordon	24	10	10
Mark Holt	1	0	0

Gaynor opened his fundraising reporting to OCPF with a total of $19,967 in contributions reported made on June 27. Micley raised roughly half of his funds by May 1, while Bixby surged in early June. Gordon and Bruce got later starts but have climbed in recent weeks.

Expenses

Name	Expenses
Daniel Gaynor	$18,042
David Micley	$11,952
Martha Bixby	$6,268
Lisa R.T. Gordon	$852
Peter Bruce	$7,260

Overall, the candidates have spent a total of approximately $44,377 thus far, with bills yet to come due for final mailings for the preliminary election and expenses for the general election. Dan Gaynor leads in total spending with $18,402 followed by Dave Micley at $11,952. Mark Holt has not yet reported any campaign spending.

Further details on the contributors to each of these campaigns are at ocpf.us.

Ed Note:

• This article has been updated to include the latest data reported to OCPF through September 6.
• This definition of self and immediate ward-residing family was initially captured in the (undisplayed) caption in the lead photo of this article. Detail and better labeling has been added around the basis for the totals. Stats adjusted to include Lisa Gordon’s mother.