If there's one thing we've always known about state Senator Ed Murray, it's that he has the potential to raise an awful lot of money awfully fast. And he didn't disappoint during the fundraising-freeze break between the end of the regular legislative session and today's start of the special session, raising $103,693 in only two weeks for his campaign to unseat Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.
To put that in perspective, that's more than Tim Burgess, Bruce Harrell, and McGinn raised during the entire month of April. Combined.
For an apples to apples comparison, following is a table of the mayoral fundraising totals through the end of April. (Note: It only includes Murray's April 29-30 totals, not the remaining $97,150 he's raised in May.)
| Candidate | Total Raised | Net Balance |
|---|---|---|
| Burgess | $231,979 | $100,250 |
| McGinn | $181,133 | $99,439 |
| Staadecker | $152,355 | $74,593 |
| Murray | $123,973* | $55,303* |
| Harrell | $112,559 | $55,908 |
| Steinbrueck | $62,153 | $37,843 |
| Martin (Kate) | $2,947 | $1,675 |
| Martin (Mary) | $0 | $0 |
Add in his May totals and Murray has raised $221,123 total, likely bringing his net balance north of $140,000 (there's no word on his expenditures). That said, the other candidates have presumably been raising cash the past couple weeks as well, if at a dramatically slower pace. Now that the special session has started, Murray is prohibited from raising money again, giving the other candidates an opportunity to catch up.
