Longtime Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, the lone D.C. Council member who’s running for re-election unopposed, is still outspending everyone else by at least 3 to 1, topping $46,000 over the past two months.
Nearly $45,000 of that spending for the Evans 2012 campaign has come after the filing deadline for new council candidates closed on Jan. 4, according to the Office of Campaign Finance data. In addition, Evans has not had anyone to campaign against since early November when his challenger Fiona Greig dropped out of the race.
The new data brings the total outlay for Evans, one of council’s most prolific campaign fundraisers and spenders, up to $249,000 since last spring.
“You have to run a campaign whether you have an opponent or not,” Evans told The Washington Examiner on Monday. “I still do endorsements, meet-and-greets. Not doing that would send the wrong message — that’s just taking it for granted.”
Evans added his spending total for his 2012 campaign is less than half what he raised for his last election when he did have a challenger, and that he has “not been as aggressive this time.”
Since his candidacy has officially gone unopposed, Evans has spent $18,000 on fees for a consultant and campaign manager. Two months rent on his new campaign office near Logan Circle has cost $8,750, and he has spent more than $9,700 on advertising.
Evans said he’s still paying for advertising and consulting because those contracts were made last year when he started campaigning. Asked why he didn’t have them changed, he said, “That’s not my style.”
He did, however, move into cheaper office space upstairs, cutting his old rent of about $9,000 per month in half, according to his campaign filing.
The next-highest spending total for the last two months is by at-large candidate Peter Shapiro, who’s shelled out $16,000 since January, mostly in consulting fees. Ward 7 candidate Tom Brown has spent about $15,500, roughly half for staff and an additional $3,600 on campaign materials.
Of sitting council members, Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser spent the next highest, dishing out $14,913.
