The $100 million total price tag, more than half of which was spent by Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, underscores the state’s notoriously weak campaign finance laws.
HARRISBURG — The total cost of the governor’s race in Pennsylvania topped $100 million in this last election cycle, a staggering amount that set a new spending record in the race to snag the state’s highest office.The steep spending puts on full display Pennsylvania’s distinction as having some of the most lax campaign finance laws in the country — ones that place no limits on how much money candidates can accept from deep-pocketed donors.
That total does not include another $12.5 million in “in-kind contributions,” spending on behalf of the candidates by third parties who pay for things like campaign mailings or catering for events. That escalating cost is what campaign finance reform expert Ian Vandewalker calls “a campaign finance arms race.”
State Sen. Doug Mastriano of Franklin County, who won the Republican primary but lost to Shapiro in last month’s general election, raised much less money than Shapiro. But he still received $1 million from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, supporters of former President Donald Trump and conservative megadonors from Illinois.
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