Election 2024: Salem mayoral, council races shaping up to shatter donation records
With hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash and in-kind donations pouring into the Salem City Council and mayoral races, the 2024 primary election is shaping up to shatter local campaign fundraising records.
Committees for the nine candidates have raised a total of $359,495 as of April 23, according to Oregon Secretary of State campaign finance records.
The donations flooding in are funding campaigns for unpaid, volunteer positions. The mayoral office and half of the City Council seats are up for grabs. Those seeking campaign finance reform have lamented the fact that council races, which in the past typically involved only $10,000 to pay for yard signs and some flyers, are now high-dollar affairs with big-money backers, Facebook-targeted ads and a steady stream of mailers.
The bulk of the funds are going to mayoral candidate and current City Councilor Julie Hoy. Her campaign committee has raised a record $230,523, accounting for 64% of the total donations in the mayoral and council races.
She is outraising her opponent, current Mayor Chris Hoy, 10 to 1.
The Ward 3 race also is attracting big money, with real estate agent Shane Matthews's campaign raising $50,699 compared to legislative chief of staff Nathan Soltz's $19,542.
The fundraising so far skews toward candidates in the mayoral and Ward 3 races. The races in Ward 1 and Ward 5, while competitive, are drawing in less money. Vanessa Nordyke, who won in 2020 despite being outspent by her opponent, is running uncontested in Ward 7.
Here's who has received the most contributions in 2023 and 2024, as of April 23.
Julie Hoy (Mayor race): $230,523
Shane Matthews (Ward 3 race): $50,699
Chris Hoy (Mayor race): $21,437
Nathan Soltz (Ward 3): $19,542
Irvin Brown (Ward 5): $15,773
Paul Tigan (Ward 1): $10,573
Michael Hoselton (Ward 5): $4,648
Celine Coleman (Ward 1): $4,305
Vanessa Nordyke (Ward 7): $1,995
Big-money donors in Salem's mayoral and City Council races
The increase in campaign spending is not a new trend in Salem. In 2022 and 2020, races reported raising record-breaking amounts.
City races in Salem have become showdowns between so-called business candidates and progressive candidates, with the business candidates drawing in more money from developers, political action committees and real estate companies.
The 2024 races follow those same divisions.
The biggest donors include groups backed by real estate agents and home builders, real estate developers, police and fire unions, and political action committees and a political action committee with ties to an anti-abortion group.
The Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee came in with the biggest single donation with a $29,000 in-kind contribution to Julie Hoy. Mountain West Investment and its president Larry Tokarski also are major donors to Julie Hoy, giving $19,104 in-kind and $20,000 in cash donations, respectively.
The Salem Police Employees Union gave $5,000 to Julie Hoy.
The Salem Fire Political Action Committee gave $5,000 each to Shane Matthews and Julie Hoy.
Commercial Property Resources gave $10,000 to Julie Hoy.
The Mid-Valley Affordable Housing Coalition gave $7,500 each to Shane Matthews and Julie Hoy.
The Organization for Educational Technology and Curriculum, a Salem-based nonprofit consortium of schools, universities and libraries, gave $5,000 to Matthews.
The political action committee Marion Polk First PAC, which emerged in recent years with ties to anti-abortion groups, donated $6,250 to Julie Hoy and $3,250 to Matthews.
Julie Hoy did not respond to Statesman Journal inquiries on why she thought her campaign was drawing record-breaking amounts.
The other races, while still bringing in thousands of dollars, lack the larger donations from political action committees and businesses.
Chris Hoy's top donors are individuals, with the biggest single donation being $3,000.
Soltz's biggest donors are individuals and the campaigns of politicians. Coleman's are from similar from PACs and businesses, like the Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee, S/K Property Management and Marion Polk First PAC, but in smaller sums. Tigan's and Brown's are individuals, and Hoselton's are individuals and the Mid Valley Association of Realtors.
Salem's record-breaking mayoral race
This year is not the first year Chris Hoy has faced being outspent by an opponent.
In 2022, when he ran against Chane Griggs for mayor, donations flooded in record-breaking amounts. Griggs raised more than $125,000 in donations compared to Hoy's $51,456.
Television ads, more than $100,000 in donations and being flooded with mailers seem unnecessary for a volunteer, non-partisan position, he told the Statesman Journal in 2022.
"It's gross," Chris Hoy said. "(The mayor and council positions) are important. But to raise that amount of cash … It's mind-boggling to spend that much money."
This year seems to be no different, he told the Statesman Journal this month.
"(Julie Hoy) has already outraised by my last opponent, and it's all from the same sources," he said.
The sheer amount of money and advertising is concerning, but he said it is not going to stop him. His campaign is run by volunteers, not paid staff, and he is focusing on knocking on doors and connecting to residents.
"We won by 11 points last time," he said. "I'm hopeful that will work for us this time."
For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter at @wmwoodworth
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Salem mayoral, council races could shatter donation records
