Final Norfolk Council race numbers

The Virginia Public Access Project has posted the final numbers on the Norfolk Council races held in May. Over $1.1 million was spent in the five contested races, with Mayor Paul Fraim’s spending accounting for about 46% of the total.

With only 23% turnout (although it represents an increase over the 18.67% from four years ago that can be attributed to more competitive race),  one would expect that Fraim’s spending on a per vote basis would be the highest. That was not the case. The mayor’s $532,221 may be a record for money spent on a council race, but due to the number of votes he garned – 16,738 – he spent $31.80 per vote, which was only the fifth highest among the 15 candidates who spent any money on the race. (Two candidates did not spend any money. In addition, the ward 2 race was uncontested and the incumbent did not spend any money.)

The candidate who spent the most per vote was Ward 5 incumbent Randy Wright, who lost. Wright spent a whopping $94.43 for each of the 2,524 votes cast in his favor. By contrast, the winner of that race, Tommy Smigiel, spent only $8.64 per vote, which put him at #11 out of 15 candidates.

A couple of takeaways from looking at the data.

First, the obvious: incumbents have less trouble raising money than challengers. There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from the groups that have incumbent-only contribution rules (dumb rules, I might add) to the inexperience of first time candidates knowing whom to ask as well as how to ask for money. Combined, the four incumbents spent almost 80% of the total $1.1 million.

Second, although having money helps, it’s how it’s spent that matters. The second highest amount spent per vote  – $64.19 – was in Ward 1, where Chuck Brewer spent more than any other candidate for this open seat, but wound up third. Unfortunately, it is difficult to figure out where the money was spent because VPAP does not have the resources to track the spending side of local campaigns.  While knowing where the money is coming from is important, so is knowing where it went.

A big shout out to the four candidates – Billy Cook, Matt Hales, Andy Protogyrou, and Tommy Smigiel – who utilized the free electronic filing software provided by the State Board of Elections. I appreciate your commitment to transparency. The rest of you who filed on paper with the local registrar’s office – well, you are within your rights to do so, but you make our system of “anything goes as long as you disclose” pretty opaque.

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Here’s the data (* = incumbent):