Candidates file final 2024 campaign finance reports

January 3, 2024  |  By Cheryl Casey  |  Correspondent

Vermont state house representatives elected in the 2024 general election. Upper left to bottom right: Dara Torre (D), Candice White (D), Jonathan Griffin (R), Theresa Wood (D), Tom Stevens (D), and James Haddad (I). Courtesy photos

The Vermont Secretary of State has wrapped up the 2024 election cycle with its final report of candidates’ campaign finance disclosures. Since Election Day on Nov. 5, candidates were expected to file a regular campaign finance disclosure on Nov. 19 and a final report on Dec. 15.

The legislature convenes in Montpelier next Wednesday, Jan. 8, to open the new biennium session. All 150 representatives and 30 senators will be sworn in along with the state’s constitutional officers including Gov. Phil Scott and new Lt. Gov. John Rodgers taking their oaths of office next week. 

In the Washington-Chittenden House district, Democratic incumbents and winners Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood, of Waterbury, each reported a single donation from the same individual since their last pre-election filings of Nov. 1—$250 to Stevens and $300 to Wood. Stevens tallied his total campaign fundraising at $16,140 and campaign expenses at $15,691, with recent spending covering meals and gas, administrative tasks, and a charitable contribution to the Champlain Housing Trust. In his final report, Stevens marked $1,828 in surplus funds as donated according to state law. Vermont election laws require candidates to either forward surplus funds to the next campaign cycle or donate all surplus to the charity, candidate, PAC, or political party of their choosing. Stevens’ coffers retain $1,765 that went untouched from the previous campaign cycle. 

Wood’s campaign disclosed a total of $12,790 in contributions and $3,450 in expenditures as of Nov. 19. She spent $303 during the reporting period, with most of that money going toward an election night party. Wood has yet to submit a final report, but previous filings indicate $484 from the previous campaign cycle that was not carried forward to 2024.

Republican Jonathan Griffin, a Waterbury resident who ran for public office for the first time in 2024, submitted a Nov. 19 report showing no additional contributions since the election and a sum of $8,885 raised during the campaign cycle. Griffin’s campaign spent $718 on online advertising in this reporting period, and $5,474 in total. Griffin likewise has not submitted a final report to the Secretary of State’s office. 

Independent candidate James Haddad, of Huntington, is listed in the Secretary of State’s report as having filed his final paperwork, but neither a Nov. 19 disclosure or a final report could be located in the state’s campaign finance online database.

Of the four Washington-2 House district candidates, only Rep. Dara Torre, D-Moretown, who won re-election to her second term, filed the requisite reports. Her campaign took in $163 for the Nov. 19 reporting period, including a $113 donation from Democratic colleague Kari Dolan of Waitsfield, who did not run for re-election this year. Torre spent $780 on issue advertising, election night party expenses, and gifts to campaign volunteers. According to her final report, Torre’s campaign raised $4,644 and spent $5,859. A carryover of $676 from the previous campaign cycle plus the candidate’s own contribution covered the deficit. Torre will carry forward a $390 surplus to the next campaign. 

Waitsfield Democrat Candice White, who won the other Washington-2 House seat, Moretown Independent candidate John Burns, and Common Sense Party candidate Eugene Bifano from Warren, did not file any post-election reports yet. Bifano hasn’t submitted any financial disclosure reports this cycle. Burns’ only disclosures came in October when he filed for both the Oct. 1 and Oct. 15 reporting periods.

Finance disclosure report filings from Washington Senate candidates were just as spotty. Of the six candidates, only the incumbent Sens. Ann Cummings, Andrew Perchlik and Anne Watson submitted financial disclosures for the Nov. 19 reporting period and final reports on Dec. 15. Montpelier Democrat Cummings noted $200 in contributions and $789 in expenses in the earlier filing; her campaign spent most of that sum on candidate mileage reimbursement and events, including $250 for an election night party. Her campaign’s final report recorded $5,345 in total funds raised and $5,781 spent, including a recent charitable donation of $500 to Christ Church Episcopal in Montpelier to support their homeless housing program. Cummings also retains $6,251 in her coffers to carry over from the previous campaign cycle. 

Perchlik, a Democrat/Progressive from Marshfield, reported no contributions in either report, and $390 spent on event supplies and media in his Nov. 19 filing. The campaign added $3,101 in contributions to the $1,661 that Perchlik carried forward from the previous campaign cycle. Expenditures totaled $3,585. Perchlik’s final report noted a $2,440 surplus to be carried forward to his next campaign.

Democrat/Progressive Sen. Anne Watson, of Montpelier, added a $250 donation from the Vermont State Labor Council AFL-CIO to the total sum of $6,199 in campaign contributions, according to her Nov. 19 report. That filing listed campaign expenditures of $6,208.  The only adjustment in Watson’s final report was an additional expense of $6 in bank fees. She closed out this campaign cycle with a $2,081 surplus to be carried forward to the next campaign and a previous surplus of $1,246 that remained untouched in this cycle.

Cummings, Perchlik and Watson were the top vote-getters in the Washington Senate district, all winning re-election. 

Donald Koch, a first-time Republican candidate from Barre Town, did not submit for the period ending Nov. 19, but did file a final report for the December deadline to cover campaign financial transactions since Nov. 1. His campaign’s only incoming funds derived from a loan of $979 from Koch himself, adding to the total of $13,222 in contributions for the campaign cycle. Koch noted zero expenses during this same time period, bringing his final campaign expenditures to $13,581. He will carry a surplus of $949 forward to the next campaign cycle.

Republican and Barre Town resident Michael Deering’s only financial disclosure of this election cycle was filed on October 1, while fellow Republican Mike Doyle, of Montpelier, did not submit any financial reports.

Vermont state law requires all candidates who took in or spent $500 or more during a two-year election cycle to submit a report accounting for all financial activity before the campaign can be considered closed. Candidates who do not meet these criteria must file an under-threshold report 10 days after the general election, or November 15 this year.