Huber maintains fundraising lead over Daugherty

With just eight days to go before Texas’ May 29 primary, incumbent Travis County Precinct 3 Commissioner Karen Huber maintains an impressive fundraising lead on her presumptive general election opponent, former Precinct 3 Commissioner Gerald Daugherty.

 

Though neither of the reports were immediately available online, a reliable source told In Fact Daily that Huber held $108,000 cash on hand to Daugherty’s $37,901.

 

That difference may prove key should each candidate win their respective primary races as expected. Huber is a Democrat, Daugherty a Republican. Despite Huber’s incumbency, Travis’ Precinct 3 — encompassing much of western Travis County — tends be the county’s most conservative.

 

Both Huber and Daugherty have primary opponents. Albert Gonzales, president of Southwest Austin Democrats, again challenges Huber. He lost to Huber in the 2008 primary. Daugherty’s opponents include former Eanes ISD School Board member Jim Strickland and developer Ira Yates.

 

None of the so-called “eight-day reports” – campaign finance declarations filed eight days before an election as mandated by state law – for the Travis County slate of candidates had been posted online as of Monday evening.

 

In the period between the filing of their respective 30-day reports – delivered 30 days in advance of the May 29 primary – Daugherty raised an additional $5,000. Huber pulled in $23,305. Those figures bring the totals raised by Daugherty to roughly $65,000. Huber collected nearly $125,000. (See In Fact Daily, May 1, 2012.)

 

When their most recent available reports were filed at the end of April, Huber and Daugherty’s opponents had far less cash than the frontrunners. Gonzales had raised just $100. Strickland brought in a respectable – if too little – $13,700. Yates collected $200.

 

The presumed Huber-Daugherty rematch promises to be something of a headliner at the bottom of the ballot. Huber defeated Daugherty in 2008. Daugherty’s late entrance into the 2012 race – a fact that surprised even his fellow Republicans – came only when he realized that Huber intended to run again (see In Fact Daily, Oct. 18, 2011).

 

Issues will likely turn to finding solutions to growing concerns over water shortages for Huber, who has actively pursued that tack from the Travis County dais. Daugherty is a long-time critic of how the region handles transportation. He figures to run on highway issues, including the long-running fight over SH45 SW.

 

Whatever happens next, it appears as though Huber will have an extremely competitive war chest as the calendar turns to the fall election races. Money was a concern as she prepared for the election. “This race, I fear, will be an expensive one,” she told In Fact Daily in December. (See In Fact Daily, Dec. 1 2011.)