With just one week of campaigning under his belt, South End State Rep. Jon Santiago stepped out strong in the fundraising realm, announcing the second largest monthly fundraising total of any candidate in the mayoral race so far.
Santiago’s campaign announced that he raised more than $274,000 in the month of February, even with having announced his campaign towards the end of the month. That figure was just $1,000 behind the record so far, which belongs to Councilor Andrea Campbell, who announced her candidacy last fall and raised a 2021 record of $275,000 in January.
At the close of the February reporting period, the monthly mayoral fundraising figure brought Santiago to having a cash on hand figure of more than $400,000. Santiago entered the race for mayor just six days prior to the deadline.
“We are so proud and excited to have earned the support of so many from across Boston and beyond who share in Jon’s commitment to unify the city and bring us back from this pandemic, stronger than ever,” said Santiago Campaign Manager Victoria Williams. “Jon’s call for neighbors to join him in writing the next chapter of our Boston story is clearly resonating and we can’t wait to keep building this movement.”
Santiago’s campaign plans to use the early fundraising success to organize citywide and bring his message directly to voters.
“These campaign funds are going to be invested directly into community organizing,” said Williams. “We know the path to victory lies in building a powerful organization, fueled by volunteers and community leaders from every background who share in our vision. We started that work on day one.”
The second largest fundraising figure came from Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, who raised $192,142 according to filings at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF). She now has $270,294 cash on hand two months since her announcement.
Santiago’s filing with OCPF was lower than $274,000, at $233,719, but campaign officials said that number did not contain donations received on Feb. 28, as it was a Sunday. Figuring in two large bank deposits from contributions on Sunday, they were able to eclipse the $274,000 mark.
Campbell continued her brisk fundraising efforts in February, logging $157,307 for the month of February. That, however, was a follow up to a very impressive January number when she set a record for the race.
Her campaign reported it was the most that any Black candidate had ever raised in a month for Boston mayor, and she included that it came from around 900 donors.
Her cash on hand figure was at $841,341 after February and that put her in the lead with the most money headed into the spring.
However, not far behind her is Councilor Michelle Wu, who also had a very good month in January, raising just more than $267,000, according to her campaign. That, however, came from 1,800 donors – which was double the number of donors compared to Campbell. In January, the Wu Campaign said it also recruited 300 new volunteers and had 23 campaign events.
In February, Wu raised the least amount of money as any candidate, coming in at $136,357. However, she still had the second largest war chest at $833,367, which was only slightly behind Campbell and far ahead of Santiago and Essaibi George.