SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Political groups spent at least $163 per vote to sway the outcome of a soda tax proposal that New Mexico’s capital city resoundingly rejected, eclipsing the costs of recent campaigns in other cities and raising the financial stakes in efforts to tax sweetened beverages nationwide.
Soda tax advocates shifted their attention Wednesday to efforts in Seattle and the county encompassing Portland, Oregon, and to lobbying state Legislatures in Massachusetts and other Northeast states.
Voters in Santa Fe delivered a rare victory to the soft drink industry with Tuesday’s results. A string of taxes on sugary beverages won approval last year from Philadelphia to the California cities of San Francisco and Oakland.
Campaign finance reports show political groups spent at least $3.25 million ahead of the New Mexico special election on the tax for early childhood education, with pro- and anti-tax groups spending similar amounts.
Election officials counted 19,915 ballots – putting per capita campaign spending around $163. Additional political spending in the final days of the campaign has yet to be reported.