For anyone following the Boston mayoral election, one truth has been hammered ad-nauseum: Incumbent mayor Marty Walsh, challenged in this election by Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, has raised a lot more campaign money than his opponent — a war chest millions of dollars strong, compared to a couple hundred thousand dollars raised by opponent Jackson.
Boston is in many ways unique in the extent to which it exerts a kind of gravitational pull on political activity — and political money -- not just in Greater Boston, but indeed throughout New England.
But campaign finance data from races in smaller cities shows that campaign finance patterns that hold true in Boston politics are not unique to the city.
WGBH News took a look at races in nearby smaller cities and found, often, that the same patterns describing political contributions in the big-time arena of Boston politics hold true in sleepier elections elsewhere.
Incumbent Advantage:
There are many political advantages enjoyed by incumbent mayors, ranging from simple name recognition to the fact that they a potential army of political supporters is, literally, in their employ.
Incumbents also tend to raise more money than their challengers — often by orders of magnitude.
In Lawrence, incumbent mayor Daniel Rivera faces challenger William Lantigua, a former mayor and well known maverick.
Rivera's fundraising in 2017 alone outpaced that of his rival by a factor of more than five — over one hundred thousand dollars to less than $15,000 raised by insurgent Lantigua.
In Brockton, mayoral challenger Jimmy Pereira has raised just over $5,000 — compared to about $88,000 raised by incumbent mayor Bill Carpenter.
The city of Lynn, however, provides an interesting exception to, or perhaps variation on, the rule: Incumbent mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, a rarity in Bay State municipal politics – Republican, a has raised substantially less in campaign contributions than her opponent for the mayor's seat, sitting state senator Thomas McGee, a Democrat who is the son of the former House Speaker of the same name.
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Corporate Interests
