BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Campaign finance reports provided by the City of Brooklyn Park on Wednesday afternoon show incumbent Mayor Hollies Winston and challenger Shelle Page have established a clear fundraising advantage over the city’s two other mayoral candidates.
Winston reported raising $10,470 during the reporting period and had $6,561.68 in cash on hand entering the final week before the Aug. 11 primary. Page reported raising $6,094.52 and finished the reporting period with $3,304.52 in cash on hand. Former councilmember Boyd Morson reported raising $1,661.72, while City Council Member Maria Tran, who is also seeking the mayor’s office, reported $325 in contributions.
Cash on hand often determines how many mail pieces a campaign can send, how much digital advertising it can purchase and how extensively it can contact voters during the final week before Election Day. With less than a week remaining before the primary, Winston enters the final stretch with roughly twice as much cash available as Page and considerably more than the race’s other two opponents.
The fundraising reports suggest the race has separated into two financial tiers. Winston and Page have assembled the resources typical of competitive citywide campaigns, while Morson and Tran reported substantially smaller fundraising totals heading into the final week before voters narrow the four-candidate field to two.
Among Winston’s larger contributors were labor organizations including IAFF Local 531 PAC Fund and IUPAT District Council 82, along with business leaders, developers and community supporters. His campaign expenditures included digital advertising, voter file data, campaign printing, social media services and other campaign operations.
Page’s filing reflects a campaign focused heavily on traditional voter outreach, including campaign printing, signs, shirts and marketing materials.
Tran’s filing reported two contributions totaling $325 and no cash on hand at the close of the reporting period. Morson reported raising $1,661.72 and spending the full amount, leaving no remaining cash on hand.
While fundraising alone does not determine election outcomes, campaign finance reports provide one of the clearest public measures of a campaign’s organizational capacity during the closing days before an election.
East District primary
While the mayor’s race accounts for most of the campaign fundraising, the reports also shed light on the only contested City Council primary on the Aug. 11 ballot. In the East District, incumbent Christian Eriksen is seeking a second term in a four-candidate race where the top two finishers will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
Eriksen reported raising $4,943.36 during the reporting period and had $2,083.69 in cash on hand entering the final stretch before the primary. His filing also shows support from labor organizations, including the Building Trades Union and IUPAT, as well as self-financing through campaign loans.
The filing shows Eriksen shared campaign literature expenses with Council Member Nichole Klonowski and City Council candidate Bernice Cooper, and also includes a $500 loan to Mayor Hollies Winston for joint campaign literature.
Philip Seton Gaye-Bai, the only one of Eriksen’s challengers with a campaign finance report posted by the city Wednesday afternoon, reported receiving $2,200, including $1,250 in in-kind contributions, and had $340 in cash on hand. His expenditures included campaign literature, signs and other campaign materials.
Financially, Eriksen enters the final week before the primary with more than twice the resources reported by Gaye-Bai and about six times as much cash available to spend before Election Day.
Of Eriksen’s three challengers, only Philip Seton Gaye-Bai had a campaign finance report posted by the city as of Wednesday afternoon. Aaron Endris and Allen Miskowiec did not have reports posted.
Central and West Districts
Although voters in the Central and West districts will not have City Council primaries on Aug. 11, because only two candidates filed in each race, campaign finance reports show those contests are also taking shape ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
In the Central District, incumbent Nichole Klonowski is seeking re-election against challenger Ashyante Shantell Gill. Klonowski’s campaign finance report shows she raised $1,450 during the reporting period. The filing also reflects spending on campaign literature, website services and shared literature for council members. No campaign finance report for Gill had been posted by the city as of Wednesday afternoon.
In the West District, Bernice Cooper and former councilmember Tonja West-Hafner are competing for the open seat being vacated by mayoral candidate Maria Tran. Cooper’s campaign finance report shows she raised $1,901.53 and reported $600 in cash on hand. Her filing also includes spending on campaign literature, coordinated convention materials, campaign apparel and digital outreach. No campaign finance report for West-Hafner had been posted by the city as of Wednesday afternoon.
The reports provide the clearest picture yet of how candidates are positioned financially as Brooklyn Park enters the final days before next week’s primary, and the campaign season shifts toward the Nov. 3 general election.
Early voting is already underway for the Aug. 11 primary, which will narrow the four-candidate mayoral field and the four-candidate East District City Council race to two candidates each for the Nov. 3 general election.
To look up your early voting location or your voting place for Tuesday, visit this Secretary of State link.
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About Tom Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the board of the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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