Four weeks before E-day yet another candidate for mayor of Springfield is going on television. City Council President Jesse Lederman has purchased ad time on WWLP, the more-watched of the region’s two major broadcast stations, with more buys expected. His WWLP run follows City Councilor
Days after the incumbent bought his first batch of airtime ahead of the September mayoral preliminary in Springfield, one of his major challengers has followed suit. At-large City Councilor Justin Hurst went up on television Thursday morning with a one minute spott.
UPDATED: 8/4/23 10:33PM: To include note of how many different ads are running. To the surprise of no one, incumbent Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno is the first candidate to go on the air in the mayoral race. Fresh off a boffo fundraising months in June
Thanks to his reelection war chest’s sheer size and robust monthly fundraising, Domenic Sarno still has the most money among Springfield mayoral candidates. Yet, his monthly burn rate has reached nearly $50,000. Money is not the only campaign finance story in June, though.
Over $21 million in bonding was before the Springfield City Council last Monday, weeks after Mayor Domenic Sarno successfully pushed his budget through. Nearly all of these were normal capital projects that do not belong in the budget anyway.
On June 20, for the first time since the shroud of the coronavirus fell upon Springfield, city councilors confronted Mayor Domenic Sarno, faccie e faccie, in chambers as he presented his budget for new fiscal year.
Patterns that began to emerge in April campaign finance reports for the Springfield mayoral race came into clearer focus in May. Incumbent Domenic Sarno took back the top fundraiser spot, but his monster spending put him into a deficit while two of his challengers kept building their reserves.
Although meetings have become much more fluid since going hybrid last year, the Springfield City Council’s outing hit a snag on Monday. The body trudged through a permit for the Student Prince to close Fort Street during summers.
Challengers to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno enjoyed some brisk fundraising as the race itself picks up speed. While May reports, which will be due in a few days, should show whether candidates can maintain this pace, the April numbers could alter some of the assumptions about the money race.
What are elections about? The smart political operative will tell you they are about the future.
That was not exactly on tap when Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno launched his reelection Wednesday at the Greek Cultural Center.