Image Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout & Canva.
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only. Per The Tennessee Lookout’s republishing guidelines, this article has been edited for writing style & length.
By Adam Friedman [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Independent candidate David Hatley loaned his gubernatorial bid another $5 million in September, bringing his total self-funding to $12 million less than three weeks before the November election.
Hatley’s campaign holds a significant cash advantage over his rivals, as the latest state campaign finance reports due Tuesday showed he entered the final stretch of the campaign with over $6.8 million available to spend.
Despite Hatley’s cash advantage, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee, is the favorite to win the race, as Tennessee hasn’t elected a Democrat to a statewide office in two decades, and never has elected an independent candidate.
Blackburn’s campaign raised $2.1 million in the reporting period spanning from the end of the August primary election to Sept. 30. She has $3.1 million heading into the race’s final weeks.
Jerri Green, the Democrat in the race, raised nearly $1 million this quarter, her largest cash haul in a single reporting period this election. Independent Lauren Pinkston raised around $150,000.
Independent candidate David Hatley loaned his gubernatorial bid another $5 million in September, bringing his total self-funding to $12 million less than three weeks before the November election.
President Donald Trump, at a rally Saturday for Blackburn and other GOP candidates in Tennessee, made an explicit plea telling his supporters, “you have to vote Republican.”
At the same rally, Blackburn said she was the “only conservative” in the governor’s race.
