Both Boston mayoral candidates blew through more cash than they took in last month, but new financial disclosures show Annissa Essaibi George now lags behind Michelle Wu in cash on hand by about $215,000.
The gap, political observers say, is not an insurmountable amount. Super PACs could potentially help both candidates, but Essaibi George has said she wants outside money to stay out of the race.
Wu, who won more than 30% of the vote in last month's preliminary election, brought in nearly $400,000 to Essaibi George's roughly $260,000 in September.
Essaibi George spent $407,315 last month — with the largest chunks of money going to staff, advertising, mail materials and consulting services. All told, the preliminary left her with about $152,080 in the bank.
Wu spent $585,440 on similar priorities and finished the month out with $367,649 in cash on hand.
The disclosures, filed by both campaigns on the night of the Tuesday deadline, offer a glimpse of the financial picture for the race's two remaining candidates facing down the final 30-day stretch of the campaign. Essaibi George, who finished 11 percentage points behind Wu in September, now has to collect more votes and money to catch up to her opponent.
Essaibi George asked super PACs to stay out of the race in late September. The request came after The Dorchester Reporter revealed a connection between one of her supporting super PACs, run by former Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, and a Beverly financial services company with ties to former President Donald Trump. The group also took in $495,000 from New Balance CEO and Republican donor Jim Davis.
The Super PAC, Real Progress Boston, has not filed a disclosure so far since Essaibi George's declaration. Bostonians for Real Progress, a separate super PAC supporting her, has not made a disclosure either.
Wu, on the other hand, received recent indirect support from one of the two super PACs behind her. The Boston Turnout Project filed a disclosure showing a collection of about $190,000 within the last two weeks, shelling out $40,000 on digital and cable advertising in support of Wu last Wednesday. The other Wu-backing super PAC, Environmental League of Massachusetts, spent last week about $1,000 on social media advertising for Wu.
