Barry Finegold Makes It Rain

The Andover state senator—with statewide office ambitions—has far outpaced his colleagues in 2013 fundraising.

Barry Finegold

Photo via AP

Rumor has it that state senator Barry Finegold of Andover intends to run for state treasurer in 2014—and his campaign account sure seems to support that speculation. Finegold raised more than a quarter-million dollars in the first half of 2013, which is leaps and bounds beyond any of his peers, and far more than he would need to pursue re-election.

The only senator even close to him was Linda Dorcena Forry—an anomaly, who raised and spent big bucks for the special election that just recently landed her a seat in the senate chamber.

Finegold and Forry were hardly the only state senators with higher office in mind in the past six months. But congressional candidates Will Brownsberger, Katherine Clark, and Karen Spilka are raising their money via a separate federal account. Dan Wolf (who has plenty of his own money for campaigning) was apparently not raising money at all prior to his early-July gubernatorial announcement.

The January-to-June reports were due Monday, giving us the first peek into what state legislators have been raising and spending this year—lawmakers make other pols report twice a month, but not themselves. Other items for the tea-leaf readers: rumors that Republican Richard Ross isn’t running again will get a boost; senate president Therese Murray, widely expected to be in her final term, continued to raise but not at her usual levels; Stanley Rosenberg, rumored to have gained the upper hand to succeed Murray, upped his fundraising; but the same can’t be said of Stephen Brewer, Rosenberg’s rival for the presidency.

As for Boston’s delegation … Anthony Petruccelli continues to show his fundraising prowess, and Sal DiDomenico is also keeping the money rolling in. Sonia Chang-Diaz, on the other hand, may have been a little too busy with her pregnancy to do much fundraising.

Here are the amounts raised in the first half of 2013 by the 40 state senators, along with their committees’ current balances. [Note: Bob Hedlund’s report has not yet been posted.]

Candidate2013 to dateCash on Hand
Barry Finegold $286,199$271,079
Linda Dorcena Forry$216,143$5,230
Therese Murray$100,250$52,112
Anthony Petruccelli$70,888 $30,460
Michael Moore$60,780$88,220
Ben Downing$55,137$58,279
Stan Rosenberg$50,556$35,225
Sal DiDomenico$48,580$119,035
Brian Joyce$47,884$35,307
Michael Rodrigues$41,914$38,869
Jen Flanagan$36,661$35,892
Stephen Brewer$30,943$143,754
Katherine Clark$29,980$46,958
Tom Kennedy$29,120$178,055
Mike Rush$26,422$18,498
Eileen Donoghue$25,410 $43,598
Tom McGee$23,625$35,288
James Welch$22,280$9,893
Richard Moore$22,058$121,272
Michael Knapik$17,479 $562
Bruce Tarr $16,950$195,774
Kathleen O'Connor-Ives$16,007$10,505
Karen Spilka$15,546$42,807
Ken Donnelly$15,299$7,405
Mike Barrett$13,909$3,124
Harriette Chandler$12,259$170,308
Jamie Eldridge$11,690$1,927
James Timilty$10,400$11,218
Joan Lovely$8,375$4,475
Marc Pacheco$7,750$60,595
Cynthia Creem$6,929$14,496
Sonia Chang-Diaz$5,512$93,371
John Keenan $3,967$10,394
Mark Montigny$1,015$1,064,074
Pat Jehlen$700$27,483
Dan Wolf$600$23,479
Will Brownsberger$500$1,810
Gale Canderas$345$84,913
Richard Ross$154$2,430