It's required by law for candidates for office to report financial data.
Here's a look at campaign finances for pertinent upcoming elections.
Here are some key points and observations:
* most campaign dollars for local elections come from the candidate and the candidate's family funds.
* you need at least $5,000 to run a respectable city commission campaign. That doesn't mean you can't win on less.
* only 8 of the 16 city commission candidates have reported finance data. This could mean they have raised and/or spent less than $3,000. Local candidates only have to provide financial data if they raise or spend more than $3,000.
* the likely winning mayoral candidate will have raised and spent nearly $10,000. Per this report Conder has spent over $30,000 and Watson over $43,000. They both have more to spend.
* be mindful that a lot of campaign money usually is spent between the 15 day report and the post election report. The post election financial data usually indicates a jump in expenditures in the 15 days leading up to an election.
* there were no financial reports for any of the Board of Education candidates.
I provide the U.S. Senate race data for comparison. Keep in mind the Senate race in Kentucky is hotly contested.
