Last week was the deadline for candidates and political committees to file their disclosures of campaign contributions received and expenditures made between January 1 and June 30, 2019.

I downloaded the raw data that includes reported contributions of all state and local candidates. who are required to itemize contributions from a source that total more than $100.

These are preliminary data. Some candidates may be late in filing their reports with the Campaign Spending Commission. And I’ve already noted some discrepancies in the numbers contained in at least a couple of other reports which I’ll have to stare at further when I have time.

That said, here’s a quick and dirty listing of the candidates who reported raising $15,000 or more during this six month period. For the full list of all candidates reporting so far, use this link.

At the top of the list is City Council Member Kymberly Pine, who is running for Honolulu mayor. Pine held four fundraisers last year, and another $1,000-$2,000 per person in June 2019 at the Oahu Country Club.

Pine’s campaign reported receiving contributions of $206,350 between January 1 and June 30, and finished the period with $538,520 in the back.

Senator Donovan Dela Cruz, chairman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means committee, reported taking in $141,816. And Andria Tupola, who was the GOP challenger to Gov. David Ige during his reelection campaign last year, came in third with a reported $117,524. There’s a discrepancy between this figure, compiled from the raw data downloaded from the state’s Open Data portal, and the summary report filed by Tupola’s campaign. I’ll have to return to this and try to figure out the source of the difference.

The “usual suspects,” including legislative leaders and incumbant council members, made up most of the rest of those at the top of the fundraising ranks, but there were also a handful of newcomers.

Attorney Robert J. Brown, who has formed a campaign committee to support his run for Honolulu prosecutor, led the newcomers by taking in $26,471.

Two other first-time candidates, both running for seats on the Honolulu City Council, were also among the top fundraisers. Alan Texeira, who is on the staff of current council chairman Ikaika Anderson, took in $20,750 to launch his campaign for the seat currently held by his boss, who will not be eligible to run again due to term limits. And Jacob Aki, a 2013 graduate of Kamehameha, raised $15,216 in a bid to represent the council’s District 7.