Eric Patton out-fundraised his opponent Jeff Eslick in the District 11 council race by $47,952 in the pre-runoff reporting period.
While Eslick’s disclosure shows him raising $29,758, $22,633 of that came from a loan he made to his own campaign. Patton has received a substantial amount of his money from Democratic regulars and PACs. Among the individuals supporting Patton are state House members Gloria Johnson, Bob Freeman and Darren Jernigan, a slew of current and former councilmembers, former Mayor Megan Berry and Marjorie Pomeroy-Wallace, Freddie O’Connell’s campaign manager.
Patton has been bolstered by PACs, including $9,000 from Growing Tennessee’s Future Outlook, a pro-LGBT progressive PAC, $9,100 from We Are Ready Nashville, and smaller donations from a number of labor, business and realty PACs. In total, he received $22,500 from PACs compared to Eslick’s $2,000, which represents contributions from the police and firefighters union’s PACs.
Patton may get a second fundraising boost not included in this disclosure. An anti-LGBT mailer sent out by a PAC in support of his opponent landed after the deadline. Freddie O’Connell’s donations got a big boost in the mayoral race prior to the Aug. 3 election when outside groups funded attack ads targeting him. Patton told the Banner that people have donated in response to the mailer.
Over in District 4 in South Nashville, the final days promise a close race. Although candidate Davette Blalock beat her opponent Mike Cortese’s fundraising, he came into the runoff period with four times the amount of cash on hand, and is heading into the final stretch with slightly more than her. Blalock and Cortese raised $21,724 and $13,195 respectively. Both candidates received backing from a handful of the same PACs, including the Nashville Business Coalition’s PAC, A Better Nashville and 1st and Tenn PAC. Blalock has the backing of the police and firefighters unions.
District 29 candidates John Reed and Tasha Ellis entered the runoff on fairly equal footing, with neither candidate having more than $2,000 on hand. But Ellis seems to have pulled away in the Antioch district, outraising Reed nearly three-to-one. Reed raised $11,191 compared to Ellis’s $30,422. Reed got nearly half of his money from a $5,000 donation made by Growing Tennessee’s Future Outlook. Ellis received $11,000 from PACs, including a handful of labor PACs, the Nashville firefighter union’s PAC and A Better Nashville.
Here is each candidate’s disclosures:
District 4
District 11
District 29