Gulfport mayoral candidate Barbara Banno is leading the fundraising battle against incumbent Sam Henderson, but he won the latest battle. During the first half of February from the first until the twelfth, Henderson brought in more than $4,500 compared to Banno who raised just over $3,000.
The latest round of campaign finance activity brings Henderson’s total raised as of February 12th to just over $9,000. Banno has raised more than $16,000.
However, Henderson has more cash on hand than his opponent by nearly $1,000. Henderson has held on to $4,295 while Banno has spent nearly all of her campaign haul with just $3,643 left in the bank.
Banno is continuing to bring in local contributions with just six of her total donations coming from outside Gulfport. Henderson, however, is enjoying money from outside the city and political committees.
He got $1,000 each from the conservative PAC Florida Speaks and a realtors group. Banno’s large contributions also came from outside the community with $500 from her mom, Joanne Banno, and $250 from her uncle, John Banno. A $1,000 contribution did come from inside the city from resident Nancy Hudson.
And that’s not to say Henderson isn’t tapping community resources as well. Gulfport resident Elise Minkoff kicked in $500 and a Gulfport small business, Domain Home Access, contributed $200. Henderson will be greeting voters at an event there Saturday night.
Henderson also had several small contributions from residents within the city.
Banno spent a total of $4,673 during the latest fundraising period. She spent more than $2,000 on absentee mailers from Keen campaigning plus another $800 to that same company for campaign buttons, shirts and Facebook ads. Keen Campaigning had also been serving as Banno’s campaign consultant, but she’s now running the campaign solo with the help of volunteers.
Henderson spent his latest wad mostly on campaign consulting. More than $4,000 went to Parsons-Wilson campaign consultants with another $230 spent on advertising in the Gulfport Gabber.
The two are in the homestretch of what has become a heated campaign for a municipal race that’s typically fairly quiet. Banno lashed out at Henderson this week over his endorsement from the Stonewall Democrats, a pro-LGBT group. She called him a follower on LGBT-related issues.
Meanwhile, Henderson launched a by-proxy attack on Banno by sticking it to Vice Mayor Yolanda Roman over Gulfport’s handling of the August sewage dump into Clam Bayou. In a Facebook post after the altercation, Henderson tied Roman to Banno over the issue and what he says are trails of misinformation.
The two face off at the polls March 15.
