The campaign of State Senator Jose Peralta (D-Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside) outraised challenger Jessica Ramos’ campaign albeit with fewer individual donors, according to latest campaign financial documents.
The two campaigns documented their expenditures and income raised from January until the July 16th deadline. The Peralta campaign had $181,629 remaining after their spending. Ramos’ campaign had $98,660 in contrast.
However, Peralta received less money than Ramos when it came to individuals. Ramos raised around $130,000 from in total with notable donors being actress Susan Sarandon, actor John Leguizamo, and City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside). In contrast, Peralta’s campaign collected about $69,000 from about 240 donors.
A significant portion of Peralta’s money came from the Senate Independence Campaign Committee. Since February, the campaign transferred $113,500 from the committee to the campaign with the last one recorded on July 11th.
The Senate Independence Campaign Committee was a fundraising entity for all the former members of the Independent Democratic Conference. The IDC was an alliance of Democratic lawmakers that worked with Republicans in the State Senate until it dissolved last April in a deal.
A state judge ruled in early June that the committee was illegal for the former IDC members, however no action has occurred against the recipients of the fund.
Interestingly, Andrea Marra, who announced her run in the race despite not receiving as much exposure as the frontrunners, raised $2,742 from 32 individuals. Marra dropped out of the race early last month and threw her support behind Ramos.
“What matters most is making sure a real Democrat wins this seat, which is why I am endorsing Jessica Ramos in her bid to defat Senator Jose Peralta in the Democratic primary,” she said.
Marra’s campaign gave support for Ramos with a $2,500 contribution given on June 7th, a day after suspending her campaign. The campaign also sent donations to State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan) and Melissa Sklarz, who is challenging State Assemblymember Brian Barnwell (D-Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City, Maspeth).
The fourth person in the race is the young hopeful Tahseen Chowdhury, who first announced his run in State Senate District 13 in May of 2017. His campaign did not file with the New York State Board of Elections with only one file appearing in July 2017.
