BATON ROUGE – Three months from the November election, the numbers are in for the most recent quarter’s campaign finance reports for the East Baton Rouge Mayor-President race. Candidates report all campaign donations since May.

While political experts say the total money earned doesn't tell who will win the race, it gives an idea of who’s supporting each candidate.
Political analyst James Hartman says over the next three months, campaign donations will continue to grow.

“If somebody writes you a $25,000 check, you know, maxes out your campaign, typically when they do that, they're done,” Hartman said. “When somebody writes a $25 check to your campaign, it means that's what they can afford, and they're really invested in your success.”

Campaign records show Incumbent Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome has raised $210,000 during the period. Ted James says he’s raised $310,000, which put him on track to once again outpace Broome in campaign contributions.

“With this fundraising quarter, we've exceeded our goals,” Mayor-President candidate Ted James said. “There's no mistake about it, our campaign is a grassroots campaign with over 1000 individual donations.”

Other candidates, like Republican Sid Edwards, raised more than $6,300. Nathaniel Hearn has close to $7,900, while Steve Myer and William Roundtree have $450 and $100 on hand at the end of the quarter. Ted James and Sharon Weston Broome are currently the two top contenders for the race.

"We saw an influx of hundreds of new low-dollar donors," M. E. Cormier with Sharon Weston Broome’s campaign said. "The mayor has always been outraised in her mayoral campaigns, sometimes three to one. We're not concerned about how other donors donate."

The election for Mayor-President is Nov. 5.