New Bedford’s Biggest Political War Chests of Cash [OPINION]

"Money is the mother's milk of politics" is an old phrase that is still true today. In fact, money might be more important in the age of COVID-19.

The pandemic has put an end to many forms of traditional campaigning. Most people wouldn't appreciate a candidate knocking on their door these days. Large events are not currently allowed. Even a small gathering of a campaign's key volunteers would be a risky endeavor. Candidates are going to have to buy the time to communicate with the voters this cycle.

Here are the amounts in some of the political campaign accounts of officials elected in the city of New Bedford:

Senator Mark Montigny: $837,235

Sheriff Thomas Hodgson: $262,804

Mayor Jon Mitchell: $221,320

Representative Antonio Cabral: $148,628

Representative Paul Schmid III: $101,751

Representative William Straus: $93,032

Former Representative Robert Koczera: $45,844

Former City Councilor Steven Martins: $37,072

City Councilor Linda Morad: $34,056

Representative Christopher Hendricks: $19,254

Bristol County Commissioner John T. Saunders: $10,814

Representative Christopher Markey: $3,086

Register of Deeds Fredrick Kalisz Jr.: $2,260

Ward 1 Councilor Brad Markey: $3.66

Ward 2 Councilor Maria Giesta: $982

Ward 3 Councilor Hugh Dunn: $1,068

Ward 4 Councilor Derek Baptiste: $368

Ward 5 Councilor Scott Lima: $2,373

Ward 6 Councilor Joseph Lopes: $3,443

Councilor Ian Abreu: $8,535

Councilor Brian Gomes: $1,686

Councilor Naomi Carney: $2,332

Former Ward 5 Councilor Jane Gonsalves: $1,203

Lisa White: $1,200

Richard Tyson Moultrie: $75

Paul Chasse: $14.78

All of these financial figures come from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance.

As the city of New Bedford focuses on municipal elections, there are some candidates that are in a great financial situation and there are some that have lots of work to do if they hope to even be competitive in 2021.

Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

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