John Roderick rallied supporters to donate during the first week of his campaign because money is how you indicate to the political class that you are a legitimate candidate.
John Roderick rallied supporters to donate during the first week of his campaign because money is "how you indicate to the political class that you are a legitimate candidate." Jim Bennett

Last week, I told you about how Council President Tim Burgess has already raised more than $100,000 for his reelection campaign.

In just a week, Burgess's newest challenger—Long Winters frontman John Roderick—has made an impressive showing against all that cash, raising $40,250 of his own, according to Roderick's campaign. About $18,300 of that poured in on the first day of the campaign.

Roderick knows he has to raise cash to be taken seriously:



More interesting than just the totals, though, is that Burgess and Roderick have almost the same number of donors—about 390 and 360, respectively—but Burgess has raised almost three times as much (about $115,000* so far), showing that he's moving in a world of donors who can write bigger checks. Two-thirds of Roderick's donations so far have been gifts of $50 or less, according to the campaign.

Jon Grant, former director of the Tenants Union and Burgess's other serious challenger in this race, has raised about $21,700 in cash, most of that coming during the first month after he announced.

Meanwhile, the PDC has updated everyone else's totals, which confirms that Burgess is still in the lead and that, district elections be damned, incumbents still have the upper hand in fundraising.

Here's how the rest of the races look:

DISTRICT 1
In the 10-person West Seattle (District 1) race, Tom Koch has raised $30,850, Lisa Herbold has $24,100, and Shannon Braddock has $20,400.

DISTRICT 2
Bruce Harrell has raised the second highest amount with about $96,400. His only challenger, Tammy Morales, has raised about $28,700.

DISTRICT 3
Kshama Sawant: $51,300
Rod Hearne: $30,300
Pamela Banks: $17,800
(Sawant has spent most of her money already on multiple campaign consultants, printing her monthly newsletter, and office space rented from her party, Socialist Alternative.)

DISTRICT 4
Jean Godden: $63,200
Rob Johnson: $38,300

DISTRICT 5
In the North Seattle (District 5) race, Sandy Brown leads with $42,800, followed by Mian Rice at $35,300 and Debora Juarez at $16,400.

DISTRICT 6
Mike O'Brien: $23,800
Catherine Weatbrook, O'Brien's only challenger so far: $11,100

DISTRICT 7
Sally Bagshaw, who's running unopposed: $52,200

POSITION 9
And in the other citywide seat (Position 9), civil rights attorney and former legal counsel to the mayor Lorena González has raised $43,800—more than any other non-incumbent so far—and Bill Bradburd has $37,600.

*This number and all the others in this post include both cash and in-kind contributions, which means they may include some non-cash gifts and money from the candidates themselves, like the $1,500 Burgess spent for campaign-related catering. Yum.