Saturday, January 18, 2014

FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: GOP Appetite To Remove Grijalva Is Gone; Saucedo Mercer Campaign Starving

As Republicans look to defeat three Arizona Democrats in swing Congressional districts, the appetite to defeat longtime progressive Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-CD3) has waned.  As a result, the campaign of Gabriela Saucedo Mercer - who was the Republican nominee in 2012 - is starving.

Saucedo Mercer has filed her campaign finance report for the year ended December 31, 2013, and not only is it barely in the black, but it pales in comparison to where she was at this point two years ago (when she was a no-name new candidate).

Saucedo Mercer, a Tucson businesswoman, brought in $5,795 in contributions in the 4th quarter of 2013, with a total for the year of $22,351.  As of December 31, the campaign's bank account had a balance of just $773.

In 2011, she had brought in more than $100,000 in contributions and started 2012 with $10,000 in the bank.  She had benefited from contributions from several employees from Rosemont Copper and related companies, as well as reliable Republican donors.  In 2013, only Jim Click and Gabriela Saucedo Mercer stand out among the major donors.

Of course, much of her 2011 fundraising success can be attributed to the fact that it was just after Grijalva had barely passed the 50% mark in the 2010 election against Ruth McClung.  And, the lack of success in 2013 may be because Grijalva defeated Saucedo Mercer 58%-37% and the Republican money is being saved for the neighboring races against Reps. Ron Barber (CD2) and Ann Kirkpatrick (CD1).

Grijalva has not yet filed his year end report (due January 31), but he had $95,000 in the bank on September 30, 2013.

Arizona's Politics attempted to reach Saucedo Mercer for comment on her finance numbers.


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4 comments:

Bob Fox said...

In 2012 she was outspent 4 to 1 and yet got almost 40% of the vote. That tells me she can win if we all contribute to her campaign. America, we need to elect conservatives like this qualified woman to take our country back.

Please contribute to her campaign. Grijalva, co-chair of the socialist-communist progressive caucus, is the left most member of congress!

Even small donations will help her win.

Please donate here http://saucedomercer.com/

Unknown said...

You, Bob, are an idiot and Mercer is a Nazi that will NOT be getting elected.

Anonymous said...
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Mitch M. said...

Thanks for commenting, Bob.

Just FYI, the voter registration numbers in CD3 in '12 were 43% D, 21% R, and 34% I. So, if you wanted to over-simplify, you could say that Grijalva and Saucedo Mercer each got their party's voters and then split the Independent/PND 15-16 (in S-M's favor).

In '10, Grijalva & outside groups spent approx $2.3M and McClung & outside groups spent $1.3M. (http://bit.ly/AZp2010CD3, http://bit.ly/1dTEupR)