| NEWS | Second from p 8 adopted a “savior technique” brought into vogue by former President Trump, who on the 2016 campaign trail said, “I alone can fix the system.” “It’s that kind of voice in the Republican Party that will potentially be our down- fall,” Packard said. “When you go too far to the right, you piss people off and they go the other way. I get offended at that ‘holier than thou’ attitude.” Lamon’s campaign didn’t have much to say about the public backlash after A New Dawn aired on TVs across the Grand Canyon State on Easter Sunday. Campaign manager Stephen Puetz told New Times that the dissenters, whom he claims are a loud minority, grossly misin- terpreted the message behind the ad. “The feedback that we’ve gotten on the Easter ad overall was very positive,” Puetz said. “It was nothing more than an uplifting message about the Easter season.” Barrett Marson, a Phoenix-based GOP political strategist with Marson Media, said Lamon should get himself off the air before he stirs up more animus inside the Republican Party. Marson didn’t hold back when New Times asked his opinion on the matter. “Jim Lamon’s TV ads would be so much better if they didn’t have Jim Lamon in them,” Marson said. “He’s definitely the worst part of his TV ads.” Lots of Cash, Mostly His Lamon’s television ads haven’t been particularly popular, but he’s got the capital to keep churning them out until Election Day. He has spent more than $90,000 on campaign ads so far. According to Federal Election Commission filings, the day after the Super Bowl ad Lamon took in a single contribution of $763.64 from WinRed, a fundraising platform run by the Republican National Committee. By comparison, WinRed funneled $3,789.55 to Lamon on the anniversary of the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. On the first Monday after Trump praised Lamon at a rally in Florence, donors sent a little more than $10,000 to his campaign. In the first quarter of 2022, Lamon was the top-raising Republican in Arizona’s U.S. Senate race, according to recent FEC filings. The Senate hopeful pulled in $5.3 million in the first three months of the year, but $5 million came from his own coffers. Since his campaign launched in April 2021, the multimillionaire, who made his fortune in the coal and natural gas-fired power plant industry, has injected $13 million of his $13.8 million in total receipts. Lamon has promised to spend $50 million by Election Day. In the first quarter of 2022, Lamon was also the top GOP spender, doling out $4 million for television ads and other campaign expenditures. In the new year, Lamon and the eight other Republicans in this year’s primary collectively raised $8.4 million — less than the $11.3 million raised by the incumbent Democrat Kelly alone. That’s despite Lamon ending the quarter with more individual contributions than the previous three quarters. Overall, in the election cycle to date, Lamon’s $13.8 million in total receipts withers in comparison to Kelly’s $38.9 million. Kelly has reserves of $23.3 million, compared to Lamon’s $7.2 million. The other leading GOP chal- lengers, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and venture capitalist Blake Masters, have taken in a combined total of $6.4 million, and together have $2.8 million still banked. “Jim has always made a point to focus on the grassroots and not spend a lot of time on fundraising,” said Puetz. “Fundraising is not a strategic priority of the campaign.” Kelly has the edge, political analysts predict, not only because he has more cash on hand, but because that cash came from his supporters and not his own wallet. “Self-funders have a long history of flaming out in Arizona,” Marson said. They have included: Jim Pederson, who lost his U.S. Senate bid in 2006; Buz Mills, who tanked in the Republican primary in Arizona’s 2010 race for governor; and Republican Steve Gaynor, who lost his bid for Arizona secretary of state to Katie Hobbs in 2018. “The problem with just self-funding is people don’t get invested in your campaign, your movement,” Marson added. Lamon experienced a spike in indi- vidual contributions in March after Trump held a January rally in Florence. But that was merely the result of procrastinators waiting until the end of the quarter to contribute, a common pattern among candidates nationwide, according to the Lamon campaign. “Nothing motivates people to act like a deadline,” Puetz said. Half of Lamon’s individual contributions in the first quarter of 2022 came in March, Federal Election Commission data show. While he’s seeing an increase in indi- vidual campaign contributors, largely Arizona residents, Lamon’s self-funding strategy isn’t attractive to all registered Republican voters in the state. “If I had millions and millions of dollars, I’d be fighting hunger and poverty,” said Packard, the Republican voter from Prescott. “I wouldn’t be wasting it on politics.” 11 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES APRIL 28TH– MAY 4TH, 2022
