Bob McCarthy has raised more money than his three opponents for state senate, but 70 percent of the people donating to him don’t live in the district he would represent.
McCarthy, President of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts for 24 years, raised the most money in the six-week period since declaring his candidacy, $72,125, outstripping incumbent State Representatives Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont), and Jon Hecht (D-Watertown), and Boston attorney Tim Schofield.
However, $16,000 of McCarthy’s money comes from a loan to himself. He also received a $10,000 from the International Association of Fire Fighters.
Schofield, who began his candidacy in October, has raised $48,295, according to recently filed campaign finance reports that cover the period ending Nov. 25. Brownsberger and Hecht, both state representatives with existing campaign finance committees, filed reports that covered the period of July 1 to Nov. 25, including time that neither had declared their intention to run for the seat. Brownsberger pulled in $69,965 during that period and Hecht raised $52,230.
The special election primary is Tuesday, Dec. 13.
McCarthy’s campaign manager, Chris Keohan, said he was focusing on a district-wide campaign, as opposed to the more regional efforts of McCarthy’s challengers, by targeting seniors, veterans, and firefighters.
“When we started this campaign, we said there’s three regional candidates and then there’s Bob,” Keohan said. “Bob isn’t like the other candidates, he has to put together a district-wide campaign and is trying to get the vote out everywhere.”
McCarthy’s support is coming from everywhere – including from places he would not represent. Roughly 30 percent of McCarthy’s individual donors hail from inside the Second Suffolk and Middlesex District, which includes Belmont, Watertown, and parts of Cambridge, Allston-Brighton, the Back Bay and Fenway. The rest are from donors scattered across the state and from outside Massachusetts, including several donations from California.
And while McCarthy has emphasized he’s “not just a union guy,” roughly 28 percent of the donors funding McCarthy’s campaign came from firefighters and trade unions, some as far away as California. At least 60 perecent of the money donated to his campaign comes from people outside the district. And besides the hefty donation from the IAFF, McCarthy recieved $2,500 from the California firefighters union and $1,000 from the Colorado firefighters union.
Both Brownsberger and Hecht received money from individual donors only, with the majority of people coming from Belmont for Browsberger, and Watertown for Hecht. In the lead-up to the special election primary, Kate Foster, campaign manager for Brownsberger said it’s all about bolstering the base.
“One of Will’s strongest features, because he’s been in the (House of Representatives) for a while, has been his ability to fill his campaign with hard-working supporters,” Foster said. “He’s got a grassroots campaign that I haven’t seen in other campaigns I’ve worked on or volunteered for.”
Brownsberger raised over 90 percent of his campaign money from voters within the district, far outpacing Schofield, who raised roughly 36 percent from within the district and Hecht, who raised a little over 50 percent.
Like McCarthy, Schofield has donors from everywhere around Allston-Brighton and the greater Boston area, but none from Watertown, and a mere 6 percent from Belmont and Cambridge combined.
Chris Houlihan, the field leader for Schofield’s campaign, said they have been able to build from Schofield’s past two campaigns, first in 2005 for state representative, and again in 2007 for Boston city council, to launch a more organized and focused campaign effort.
“For Schofield, third time is the charm,” Houlihan said. “People in Brighton and Boston in general feel comfortable with him because they’ve met him before in past campaigns and local officials are bringing him around to their events as well.”
On the list of donors for Schofield are three Democratic election committees and one carpenter’s union. Schofield has also racked up a host of endorsements from Boston including Ayanna Pressley, the top vote-getter in the last election. And on Tuesday, he snared the endorsement of Mayor Thomas Menino. But from the list of donors, the Boston support hasn’t migrated across the river.
Pointing to their “aggressive peer-to-peer” campaign, Hecht campaign manager Steve Owens said the amount of money raised may not tell the whole story.
“It’s much more effective (campaigning) to have people reach out to their own constituents,” Owens said. “Separately, a lot of our supporters have gone into their own constituency to push Jon’s message, and a lot of our core volunteers have been reaching out to their own networks.”
On the list of donors for Hecht are several Watertown School Committee and Town Council members, including School Committee chair Anthony Paolillo, and Town Councilors Susan Falkoff and Vincent Piccirilli.
“We’re well known in Cambridge, Belmont and Watertown,” Owens said. “We’re going to go everywhere, but we’re going to go where we have the best story to tell and we can do it in the quickest time possible.”
After the primary, the general election is Tuesday, Jan. 11. The Belmont League of Women’s voters are holding a debate today, Tuesday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. on Washington Street.