HOUSTON — A new campaign spending report is out in the race for Houston mayor, showing spending shot up in October.
Sen. John Whitmire, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Gilbert Garcia each spent more than $1 million in the month. Whitmire spent $3.3 million the reporting period between Sept. 29 and Oct. 28, followed by Gilbert Garcia at $1.9 million and Sheila Jackson Lee at $1.1 million. Lee Kaplan was fourth in the month, just missing the million-dollar mark, as his campaign spent $948,000.
Whitmire and Garcia are the only candidates who have spent more than $1 million on any previous campaign spending report.
Whitmire also led in campaign contributions between Sept. 29 and Oct. 28. He took in more than $500,000. In the same time period, Garcia had $348,000 in contributions, with $340,000 of that from his own pocket, and Jackson Lee had $333,000. Whitmire still has $4.2 million cash on hand. The next closest is Robert Gallegos at $131,000, followed by Lee Kaplan at $124,000 and Jackson Lee at $108,000.
This report follows a report we posted earlier this month, showing Whitmire outspending his opponents by more than double.
As for the controller’s race, Chris Hollins spent more than a quarter-million dollars over the last month. Dave Martin was next in spending with $215,000. Hollins raised $180,000, while Orlando Sanchez raised $82,000. Martin pulled in $16,000.
Election Day is Nov. 7.
Candidates and reducing crime
In the video below, the candidates for mayor talk about their approach to reducing crime in Houston. We asked for responses from all candidates but only received videos from 10 of them. Those are in the video below.
