NASHVILLE - Karl Dean's campaign says the Tennessee Democratic candidate for governor raised $549,168 for his effort during the first quarter of 2018, bringing his total haul over $3 million.
The campaign says it had $2.02 million in cash on hand as of March 31.
Dean campaign manager Courtney Wheeler touted the former Nashville mayor's effort as a sign of "support, confidence and investment" from across Tennessee, noting Dean has some now has some 6,000 contributors from 86 of the state's 95 counties. That includes more than 1,000 new ones during the first quarter, she said.
"Those resources will support a strong grassroots coalition in all 95 counties and it will allow us to broadly share how Karl Dean will focus on common-sense solutions that will move our state forward," Wheeler said in the news release.
Dean contributors included musician Emmy Lou Harris of Nashville who gave $250.
Chattanooga-area donors included Brent Mills, founder and president of Nature Films Network, who gave $4,000 to Dean's primary campaign effort and another $4,000 to the general election effort. John Giblin, chief financial officer with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee contributed $1,000. Attorney Bill Aiken of Lookout Mountain contributed $1,000.
Tom Montague, a Lyndhurst Foundation trustee gave $1,000, as did Rick Montague. Dan and Fran Marcum of Tullahoma, owners of Marcum Capital, respectively gave $250 and $2,500.
Dean spent $330,000 during the Jan. 16 through March 31 period, paying $40,000 for research and polling by Hart Research Group, $14,758 on direct mail, $8,000 for research with Grindstone Research and $15,000 on ditigal media. His major expenditure was on staffing, spending about $170,000 through Century Staffing.
Dean is one of two Democrats and four Republicans running to succeed the term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican.
State House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, is also running in the Aug. 2 Democratic primary. Republicans running include U.S. Rep. Diane Black, Knoxville businessman and former state economic commissioner Randy Boyd, state House Speaker Beth Harwell and Franklin businessman Bill Lee.
The filing deadline for candidates running for governor and other state offices is midnight Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Republican Governors Association, which is chaired by Gov. Haslam this cycle, says it is reserving $2.2 million worth of Tennessee television advertising time during the final four-to-six weeks of the state's general election contest.
The Tennessee reservations were among $14 million in similar moves made Monday by the RGA, either directly or with partner organizations, in six states with contests for governor.
"By booking these ad reservations ahead of other campaigns and groups, the RGA will save considerable resources," said RGA Communications Director Jon Thompson in a news release.
Thompson said "more states will be targeted in the coming weeks and months, but given the massive amount of money that could pour into these states, and the potential for competitive races at the federal and state level, the RGA is ensuring our resources will be the most efficient on the field."
