According to the campaign filings with Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill’s (R) office, Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Will Ainsworth raised $94,550 in the month of August. That is over $85,000 more cash than Democratic nominee Dr. Willie “Will” Boyd raised in the same period of time.
The Will Ainsworth campaign had a beginning balance of $68,250.34. Ainsworth had cash contributions of $94,775 and in-kind contributions of $0.00. Ainsworth had August expenditures of $34,668.01 for an ending cash balance of $128,356.33
Dr. Boyd entered August with a beginning balance of just $1,618.83. Boyd’s campaign had August cash contributions of $9,286.00. Boyd’s campaign did receive in-kind contributions of $32,600.00. Dr. Boyd had expenditures of just $3,435.71 for a cash ending balance of just $7,469.12.
Dr. Will Boyd is a Muscle Shoals area pastor and bishop. He had no primary opponent. Dr. Boyd was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2017; but lost the Democratic primary to Doug Jones. Boyd has also run unsuccessfully for Congress, challenging incumbent Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville.
Will Ainsworth is presently a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. He is a Guntersville cattle farmer and businessman. Ainsworth cofounded the popular Dream Ranch, where tourists can stay in luxury accommodations while hunting and fishing on the Dream Ranch grounds. Ainsworth recently defeated Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor.
Alabama currently has no Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey (R) was elected Lt. Gov. in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. In April 2017 then Governor Robert Bentley (R) resigned rather than be impeached after the Alabama Ethics Commission referred suspect ethics and campaign finance charges to the Montgomery area district attorney. The House Judiciary Committee had already begun impeachment hearings that morning when Bentley agreed to accept a plea deal from prosecutors and resign from office. Lt. Gov. Ivey then rose to the governor’s office and Senate Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, assumed Ivey’s duties as President of the Alabama Senate.
Boyd like most Alabama Democrats have really been struggling to raise money. To this point in the 2018 election cycle Alabama Republican candidates have raised $36,612,291 while Alabama Democratic Party candidates have raised only $9,461,612 combined. That is almost a four to one advantage for Republicans. Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox alone has raised $1,715,825.80 in this election cycle, over 18 percent of the total money raised by all Democratic candidates. The independents and third party candidates have managed to raise only $259,248 combined in this election cycle. This does not include federal candidates.
Boyd will face Ainsworth in the general election on November 6. The election is only sixty days away.
