Gaines Has Big Cash Surplus In 117th House District Race

It seems unlikely Republican Houston Gaines will run out of money as he seeks to unseat Democrat Deborah Gonzalez in Georgia House District 117 in November.

Gaines, in his second attempt to win a House seat, was sitting on $169,450 in unspent funds as the election entered its crucial stage this summer.

That’s $145,951 more than the $23,499 that Democrat Gonzalez had on hand at the same time period.

It’s also significantly more than the $36,310 that incumbent Democrat Jonathan Wallace had in unspent funds for his re-election campaign in the 119th House District and the $10,746 that Republican challenger Marcus Wiedower had.

Among Oconee County’s delegation to the Georgia General Assembly and candidates seeking to be part of that delegation, only incumbent Republican Senator Bill Cowsert, who has been in office since 2007 and is Senate majority leader, had more cash on hand: $303,521.

Democrat Marisue Hilliard, challenging Cowsert, had $26,116.

Gaines not only is a very successful fundraiser, but he also is a big spender, having gone through $107,937 in the special election in the fall of 2017, when Gaines and Gonzalez competed for the open House District 117 seat, and Gaines got 46.8 percent of the vote to Gonzalez’s 53.2 percent. (Gonzalez spent $69,476.)

Candidates must file campaign finance reports again on Sept 30, and it seems likely, given past performance, Gaines will report having added significantly to the amount of money he has raised for his campaign.

For more details based on an analysis of campaign finance reports, go to Oconee County Observations.