Hosemann raises nearly $958K campaign cash in one month

Incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Friday reported raising a whopping $958,000 in May for his reelection campaign.

The one-month haul dwarfs the $211,000 Hosemann had reported raising for January through April in his last report. His campaign at the time said that he had abided by the longstanding lawmakers’ honor system of not holding fundraisers during a legislative session, which ran from January through April 1 this year.

For scale, Hosemann’s nearly $958,000 for May outpaces the $650,000 incumbent Gov. Tate Reeves — a consummate fundraiser — raised for the month.

The deadline for filing campaign finance reports for May was Friday, but many had not yet been posted on the secretary of state’s website Friday afternoon, including Hosemann’s main primary opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel.

It has thus far been unclear exactly how much McDaniel has raised or has on hand for his campaign, because of confusing reports he has filed for his campaign and a PAC he ran. He reported that he returned his largest donation to-date, $465,000 from a dark-money group his PAC funneled to his campaign. Hosemann claims McDaniel violated state campaign finance laws and has a complaint pending with the attorney general. But Mississippi’s campaign finance laws are seldom enforced.

READ MORE: Chris McDaniel’s reports deny accurate public accounting of campaign money

Hosemann’s largest contributions for the period were $50,000 from the Mississippi Bankers Association PAC and $30,000 from the Homebuilders Association of Mississippi PAC. Hosemann received large donations — from $20,000 to $25,000 each — from several state health care PACs, roadbuilders and manufacturers.

“These contributions allow us to travel the state, meet with Mississippians in every county, and share our successes over the past four years,” Hosemann said in a statement. “We’ve enacted the largest tax cut in the state’s history and the largest teacher pay raise in the state’s history, downsized state government and paid off more than $500 million in state debt. We are so grateful for the support, and encouraging endorsement of our conservative achievements and platform.”

Reeves reported in a press release Friday that his campaign has $9.4 million cash on hand, after launching a $1 million media campaign running May-June. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley in a press release Friday reported raising $355,000 for May and having $1.7 million in his campaign account.