But for law school professor F. Michael Higginbotham’s decision to dig deep into his own bank account, the special election to replace the late U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D) has been a fairly sleepy affair on the financial front.
Even with a former congressman and Cummings’ well-connected widow in the contest, money has not poured in to the Democratic stronghold. The compressed time period of the special election — primaries take place on Feb. 4 and the special general election is on April 28 — could be a factor.
According to campaign finance reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission Thursday, Higginbotham, a University of Baltimore Law School professor, led the field in receipts, taking in $615,684 through Jan. 15.
But that figure was skewed by the $506,000 of his own money he poured into the contest.
Higginbotham reported spending $406,285 and had $209,398 on hand through the middle of the month.
Former Rep. Kweisi Mfume and former Maryland Democratic chairwoman Maya Rockeymoore Cummings had similar fundraising performances, though Rockeymoore Cummings had spent more as of mid-January.
Mfume, who held the congressional seat from 1987 to 1996, reported $208,636 in his campaign account after raising $266,098 and spending $57,461. Rockeymoore Cummings raised $208,008 and spent $139,263. She reported $68,745 in the bank.
The four state legislators in the race trailed considerably on fundraising.
State Sen. Jill P. Carter had $41,627 on hand after raising $54,219 and spending $14,119. Del. Terri Hill had $40,610 in the bank, after raising $49,193 and spending $8,582.
Campaign finance reports for state House Majority Whip Talmadge Branch and Hassan “Jay” Jalisi had not been posted to the FEC website as of 8 a.m. Friday.
Harry Spikes, a former aide to Cummings who has been endorsed by the late congressman’s daughters, took in $18,664 and banked $8,830 after spending $9,834.
Josh Kurtz
Founding editor
Founding Editor Josh Kurtz is a veteran chronicler of Maryland politics and government. He began covering the State House in 1995 for The Gazette newspapers, and has been writing about state and local politics ever since. He was an editor at Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, for eight years, and for eight years was the editor of E&E Daily, which covers energy and environmental policy on Capitol Hill. For 6 1/2 years Kurtz wrote a weekly column on state politics for Center Maryland and has written for several other Maryland publications as well. Kurtz regularly gives speeches and appears on TV and radio shows to discuss Maryland politics.
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