Dayton mayor has $140K for campaign a year away

Party chair says Whaley’s fundraising is ‘significant financial advantage.’

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley isn’t up for re-election until 2017, but already she has amassed a war chest of $141,000, according to campaign finance reports filed in late July.

Whaley ran the city's second most expensive campaign for mayor ever leading up to her successful victory at the polls in November 2013.

Today, she has nearly triple the amount of cash she had in the bank at a similar point before her first bid for the city’s top elected office.

The mayor’s fundraising success and talents should translate into a significant financial advantage in her re-election race, said Mark Owens, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Party and the treasurer of Friends of Nan Whaley.

“Whoever runs against her is going to have an uphill climb,” Owens said.

Currently, it is unclear who she could face in 2017.

Requests for comment from Montgomery County Republican Party Chair Phil Plummer were not immediately returned.

At mid-year 2016, Whaley had received $114,764 in donations and carried over $64,600 from last year, according to a campaign finance report recently filed with the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

Her campaign’s cash on hand was $141,432, because of more than $38,000 in expenditures.

Whaley has received many small donations for between $10 and $500, some of which came at fundraising events held this year.

But also, labor unions, advocacy groups and individual donors also have cut her checks worth between $1,000 and $10,000.

Whaley says she plans to run for a second term. She said it takes considerable resources to effectively share her message with voters.

“I think this shows I’ve got strong support across the community,” she said. “We have got a story to tell, and we’re proud of my record as mayor, which speaks to the work we’re doing.”

By the conclusion of the 2013 mayoral race, Whaley’s campaign spent more than $411,000 to help defeat incumbent Mayor Gary Leitzell and Democratic challenger A.J. Wagner.

But unlike today, Whaley then had $50,000 in the bank the year before the election.

Running for Dayton’s mayor is expensive considering all the mailings and ads that need purchased to get the candidate’s message out, said Owens.

Citywide mailings can cost $10,000, and TV ads can run $75,000 for a week’s worth of air time, he said.

But Whaley has proven to be one of the best fundraisers in Montgomery County and she understands what it takes to win an election, Owens said.

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