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Based on his Oregon legislative salary of $1,801 per month, Senate Majority Leader Richard Devlin would need more than 46 years to earn the $1 million or so of contributor cash he will spend on his race against Republican challenger Mary Kremer.
With one day to go before ballots are counted, state filings show the Democratic incumbent in Senate District 19 (Lake Oswego, Tualatin, West Linn and southwest Portland) has spent $859,000 so far this year and has another $130,000 on hand.
Assuming Devlin spends everything he has (a fairly safe bet, given the volume of mail and TV advertising he's been generating) and that more money is still coming in, Devlin will eclipse the rarely reached $1 million mark. That milestone was first recorded in an Oregon legislative race by former House Speaker Karen Minnis (R-Wood Village) in 2006.
Kremer, Devlin's opponent, has raised $270,000 so far this year. The cumulative spending in other closely contested Metro-area Senate races will rival expenditures in the Devlin-Kremer contest.
Incumbent Sen. Bruce Starr (R-Hillsboro) has raised $566,000; his Democratic opponent in Senate District 15 (Washington County) Chuck Riley, has collected $629,000. In the Senate District 26 (Hood River and Clackamas) race to replace retiring Sen. Rick Metsger (D-Welches), Democratic Rep. Brent Barton (D-Clackamas) has raised $678,000; his GOP opponent, orchardist and Hood River County Commissioner Chuck Thomsen, has raised $451,000.
Ballots are due at county elections offices tomorrow, Nov. 2, by 8 pm. At this point, they must be hand-delivered to an official collections point because the mail will not get them there before the deadline.
Updated at 12:20 pm: Devlin notes that state filings include in his expenditures money that his committee contributes to other candidates or the Democratic caucus. He says he expect those expenditures on other campaigns to account for more than $300,000 of his total.
WWeek 2015