Campaign finance heats up in final days

The latest campaign finance reports show area candidates are building up their war chests in preparation for the big day.

In the 6th Senate District race, Republican Steve Smyk has raised about $10,000 more than Democrat Russ Huxtable, and Smyk’s ending balance is about $15,000 more, according to the Department of Elections 30-day campaign finance financial report.

Smyk has raised $70,134 with an ending balance of $50,609. Businessmen Alex Pires, Steve Montgomery, Mike Meoli, Rob Tunnell, Chris Schell and other businesses are among the top $600 donors to Smyk’s campaign. Also donating $600 was Lopez for Senate, a group formed for Sen. Ernie Lopez, R-Lewes, who did not run for re-election to the seat he had held since 2012.

Huxtable has raised about $60,000 with an ending balance of $36,329. The Delaware Senate Majority Caucus, and several New Castle County groups associated with upstate senators have paid the maximum $600 contribution for Huxtable’s campaign. These include Friends of Elizabeth Lockman, Friends of Marie Pinkney, Friends of Sarah McBride, Sokola for Senate, Townsend for Delaware Senate, and Ennis Senate Campaign Committee. The Delaware State Education Association Advocacy Fund for Children & Public Education also donated the $600 contribution max.

In the 20th District House of Representatives seat vacated by Smyk for his run for Senate, Democrat Stell Parker Selby has edged Republican Dallas Wingate in receipts by a few thousand dollars, and she is left with about $7,000 more for her ending balance.

Parker Selby has brought in $31,236 in receipts for an ending balance of $18,391. Her biggest donors include House Majority Leader Rep. Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, Lisa Blunt Rochester for Congress, House Democrats, Friends for Pete Schwartzkopf, Democrats 2022, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Wingate has raised $27,375 with about $14,000 in loans or debt. His ending balance is $11,711, and his main contributors are Republicans for Sussex, the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware, Friends of Ruth Briggs King, Friends of Rich Collins, Friends of Danny Short, and Ron Gray, state representative for the 38th District.

Speaker of the House Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, has the biggest war chest to speak of with receipts of $151,089 and an ending balance of $127,769. His Republican challenger, Carl Phelps, has brought in $7,251, and is left with a negative balance of $7,120 after about $14,000 in expenditures.

Schwartzkopf’s top donors include Pires, Tunnell, Montgomery, Preston Schell, the Comcast Corporation and Verizon Communications.

The Sussex County Republican Women’s Club and some other individuals are the top donors to Phelps’ campaign.