This article is shared with LebTown by content partner Spotlight PA.
By Angela Couloumbis of Spotlight PA, Ethan Edward Coston of Spotlight PA and Kate Huangpu of Spotlight PA
HARRISBURG — With just over a month to go until the May primary election of 2022, the nine candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor have collectively raised more than $13 million.
Some of their campaigns have been fueled primarily by small donations of $25 to $250. Others have benefited from multimillion-dollar infusions of cash. Yet others have poured millions of dollars of their own money into their campaign war chests in the hopes of pulling ahead of the pack, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
That money has helped them crisscross the state, hit the television airwaves, cut digital ads, print mailers, and pay steep salaries to a bevy of consultants and campaign finance advisors.
Though the race to lure more and bigger donors is only expected to intensify as the May 17 primary draws closer, it appears unlikely to shatter records. Pennsylvania in recent years has made national headlines for its expensive primary contests for governor — at least on the Democratic side.
In 2014, for instance, Tom Wolf edged out three opponents in a primary race that cost $36.6 million. He eventually won the general election. Before that, the bruising primary between former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and now U.S. Sen. Bob Casey cost an eye-popping $30 million.
This year’s general election, however, could quickly make history when it comes to spending.
The Republican candidate who emerges victorious in the primary will face state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who is running unopposed. As the Republicans have fought for campaign superiority, Shapiro began the year with $13.4 million on hand — and raised another $4.5 million in the first three months of this year. (Spotlight PA will soon publish a separate analysis of Shapiro’s donors.)
Here’s what we know about the Republican field’s donors, based on their most recent campaign finance reports covering the first three months of 2022 (the next report is due in early May):
Lou Barletta
Cash raised overall: $1.3 million
Cash raised in 2022: $430,745
Cash on hand: $356,292
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- Change PA PAC ($198,000)
- Norman Arthur Dick ($30,800)
- Restore The Dream ($30,000)
- Where America Started ($30,000)
Barletta, the former mayor of Hazleton and an ex-U.S. representative, has received the most money from a likely source: Change PA PAC, a political action committee that he launched last year as he was mulling a run for governor.
Change PA did not get contributions this year. In 2021, the biggest donors were Jodey Mutchler and Richard Mutchler, the president of pharmaceutical firm Biospectra, who gave $100,000.
To Barletta’s current campaign, Norman Arthur Dick, who runs a kitchen and bathroom products company in Mountain Top, contributed $30,800 in two donations. Tied for third are two political action committees: Restore The Dream and Where America Started. Each donated $30,000.
Restore The Dream is chaired by G. Reeder Patton II, whose family runs an indoor sports complex center in Harrisburg. Going back to 2018, it was affiliated with the political action committee of onetime gubernatorial candidate Paul Mango. The PAC has not raised money since 2018, when Mango made his unsuccessful run for governor, but it donated the majority of the money it had left to Barletta.
Where America Started received its largest donations last year from executives from construction, coal, and real estate companies.
Barletta also received $36,000 in an in-kind donation from James Ertle of Ertle Subaru in Stroudsburg.
Jake Corman
Cash raised overall: $2.8 million
Cash raised in 2022: $589,627
Cash on hand: $270,846
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- University City Housing Company ($500,000)
- John DiSanto ($100,000)
- Galen E. Dreibelbis ($100,000)
Corman, a state senator from Centre County, has received multiple six-figure donations over the past 15 months. His largest contributor was the political action committee of Bryn Mawr’s University City Housing Company. The company is run by Michael Karp, a major Philadelphia-area real estate developer.
Tied for second place are five donors who have each given Corman $100,000: state Sen. John DiSanto’s political action committee; Galen E. Dreibelbis, a commercial and residential real-estate developer in Centre County who formerly served in the state legislature; Laura M. Pegula, a geologist and daughter of Terry Pegula, a Penn State University alumnus who runs a multimillion-dollar energy industry acquisition company; Sandra L. Poole, a designer with a Centre County home building company run by her husband, Robert Poole; and hotel developer, owner, and operator Lance Shaner.
His third-largest donor is a political action committee called Where America Started. The PAC’s largest donors last year were executives from construction, coal, and real estate companies.
Corman has also moved $200,00 from his senatorial PAC, Friends of Jake Corman, to support his gubernatorial bid. His mother has also loaned his campaign $90,000.
Charlie Gerow
Cash raised overall: $468,574
Cash raised in 2022: $46,907
Cash on hand: $179,073
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- American Conservative Union ($100,000)
- Louis A. Esposito ($25,000)
Gerow, a Republican strategist and former lobbyist, has raised less than half a million over the course of his campaign. The largest donation ($100,000) came from the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes the annual meeting known as CPAC and of which Gerow serves as the vice-chairman.
He also loaned $85,000 of his own money to his campaign last year.
Joe Gale
Cash raised overall: $99,095
Cash raised in 2022: $58,496
Cash on hand: $33,133
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- No donors who meet that criteria
Gale, a current Montgomery County commissioner, has branded himself as a political outsider, claiming that the Pennsylvania Republican Party is not conservative enough.
Gale has raised nearly $100,000 throughout his campaign, over half of which was given during the first three months of this year. He has loaned his own campaign $25,000 of that total.
Melissa Hart
Cash raised overall: $37,060
Cash raised in 2022: $34,310
Cash on hand: $7,200
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- None
Hart, a former state senator and congressional representative from Western Pennsylvania, has seen most of her campaign cash come from individual donations under $5,000.
Doug Mastriano
Cash raised overall: $1.4 million
Cash raised in 2022: $372,555
Cash on hand: $1.1 million
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- James Martin ($110,000)
- Clayton Black ($50,000)
- Steven Latta ($50,000)
Mastriano, a state senator from Franklin County, has largely received small donations — those under $500.
His top donor is James Martin, owner of Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe, a bread and roll manufacturer in Chambersburg, who has contributed $110,000 in two donations. Car dealership owners Clayton Black and Steven Latta tied for second, giving him $50,000 each. Businessman David Z. Abel, the owner of a truck and auto supply company in Palmyra, was third, contributing $25,000.
Bill McSwain
Cash raised overall: $2.4 million
Cash raised in 2022: $1.4 million
Cash on hand: $1.7 million
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- Walter W. Buckley Jr. ($1 million)
- Jon Lubert ($125,000)
- David E. Barensfeld ($100,000)
McSwain, a former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, has attracted big-name cash donors, including Walter Buckley Jr., an investment fund managing partner, and hedge fund manager Jon Lubert. He has also received sizable donations from David E. Barensfeld, board chair of Commonwealth Partners, a conservative advocacy group.
The Commonwealth Leaders Fund — a political action committee founded by prominent conservative Matthew Brouillette and funded in large part by billionaire Jeffrey Yass — has bet big on McSwain, donating almost $6 million in TV and digital ads as well as other items like mailers. These are known as in-kind donations.
Dave White
Cash raised overall: $5.1 million
Cash raised in 2022: $1.8 million
Cash on hand: $171,308
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- PA Future Fund ($202,000)
- UA Union Plumbers & Pipefitters Vote! PAC ($200,000)
- Steamfitters Local Union 420 COPE Fund ($100,000)
White, a business owner from Delaware County, has received his top donations from a PAC controlled by Bob Asher, a candy magnate and powerful figure in Republican politics from Montgomery County. Asher was a major backer of Trump.
White on his campaign website says he worked for “decades as a union pipefitter,” and he has also seen large donations from PACS associated with that industry.
The candidate himself, with his wife Debra Ann, has loaned his campaign $4 million, according to his most recent report.
Nche Zama
Cash raised overall: $263,052
Cash raised in 2022: $35,448
Cash on hand: $134,455
Top donors who gave at least $25,000 at one time:
- No donors who meet that criteria
Zama, a Harvard-educated surgeon who has lived in the Poconos for more than a decade, has primarily received smaller donations. The candidate had loaned $140,000 to his own campaign, his most recent report showed.
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