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Seaton leads House District 31 fundraising

Photo courtesy of Paul Seaton.

Campaign season is in full swing on the southern Kenai Peninsula and aside from asking residents, businesses and political groups to throw up campaign signs, candidates in House District 31 are asking for their money as well.  

The only competitive primary race in House District 31 this election cycle is on the Republican side. Three candidates are vying for the party’s support and chance to face incumbent and former Republican Paul Seaton in the general election.

Homer candidate Sarah Vance leads the pack in both fundraising and spending. As of July 20, Vance raised roughly $5,600 and has spent all but roughly $500.

Individual contributions account for most of the funds Vance has raised, but she did receive one contribution from a Conoco Phillips employee political action committee.

John Cox of Anchor Point has raised about $4,800 in individual contributions. Cox has spent less than Vance with roughly $1,700 in expenditures since his first filing with the Alaska Public Offices Commission earlier this year.

The third candidate in the Republican race, Henry Kroll of Soldotna, has not raised any money.

In the Democratic primary, Seaton is running unopposed as a non-partisan candidate for the first time. The former Republican raised nearly $33,000 between early 2017 and 2018 and took in about another $12,000 by July 20. Nearly a third of that money came from labor unions around the state. Seaton also received a couple of donations from Anchorage Republican Gabriel LeDoux’s political action committee.

Seaton’s campaign has spent about $7,500 and has roughly $42,000 on hand.

Candidates will be required to file one more round of expenditure reports leading up to the primaries on Aug. 21 before turning their attention towards the general election, where Seaton has the clear lead in terms of campaign fundraising.

That may come in handy for Seaton who has faced opposition from his former party. Republican Party leaders targeted him and two House Republicans for joining a bipartisan coalition in 2016, which took control of the house away from the party.

Seaton will face an opponent in the general election this fall for the first time since 2012.  

Aaron Bolton has moved on to a new position in Montana; he is no longer KBBI News Director. KBBI is currently seeking a News Director, and Kathleen Gustafson is filling in for the time being.
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