SPRINGFIELD — Candidates filed November campaign finance reports this month, providing a look back on fundraising and spending in Springfield’s mayoral race.
Mayor Domenic Sarno far outraised and outspent his opponent, attorney and City Councilor Justin Hurst. Sarno spent about three times as much money campaigning in 2023 than Hurst, records show.
This year, Sarno spent about $550,000 on his campaign, while Hurst spent roughly $185,000, according records filed with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
In 2023, Sarno raised more than $280,000. He started the year with $300,000 in the bank, state records show.
Sarno did not immediately reply for a request for comment.
Hurst raised $150,000 in 2023, including nearly $7,000 he loaned to his campaign in late October and early November. He started the year with $37,000.
“We did the best we could do. I’m proud of my team for everything,” Hurst said Wednesday about his campaign fundraising this fall. “We did everything a non-incumbent could do possibly to win.”
How did the campaigns spend their cash this year?
Sarno campaign
A large chunk of Sarno’s campaign war chest went to advertising. Records show he paid more than $300,000 this year to Northampton-based Horgan & Associates for producing and buying TV, web and radio advertising.
He also paid $55,000 to DAPA Research Inc., a Lynnfield polling and market research group. Those expenses were labeled as research in reports filed with the state.
Other large campaign expenses this year were $20,000 in lawn signs and bumper stickers, about $16,000 for telephone canvassing and voter ID research through Roche Associates. Several events at restaurant Student Prince and the Fort totaled about $12,000.
From the funds, Sarno also made donations to a variety of nonprofits and organizations, like $500 to the South End Community Center, $275 to the Diocese of Springfield and $250 to the United Way of Pioneer Valley.
Hurst campaign
Major expenses for Hurst’s campaign this year included nearly $40,000 for a campaign manager and $30,000 for Get Set Marketing, a Springfield company. He also used money for advertising, spending $2,500 with Western Mass News, $14,000 with WWLP and about $5,000 with African American Point of View, a newspaper his father owns.
Both candidates had several audit letters in their online files from the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance flagging issues in the last year with their reporting.
Most of the issues with Hurst’s campaign data related to expenditures the bank reported that need more clarification on what they were for. That’s “nothing new and we will clarify those for them,” Hurst said.
Sarno has several letters on file that flag the same problem. It appeared his campaign was missing deposit reports. After a regular review of his reports, letters sent to his campaign said it needed data on where a total of $14,000 deposited in September came from and where more than $10,000 in August came from, problems that the campaign later resolved, reports show.
