Kari Lake Team Blowing Through Her Campaign Cash #AZGOV

The Arizona Republican Gubernatorial candidates filed their first fundraising paperwork last week and there's been a lot of discussion about what they mean to the race.

Table Credit: Dillon Rosenblatt @dillonreedrose

The most shocking numbers were Kari Lake's and not in a good way. While the Trump endorsed candidate did raise just over $1.4 million she already burned through $1 million of it and not on the things people would expect them to. The campaign team which Kari says she is running herself (see below) but also seems to include Arizona Republican Party official Tyler Bowyer and political new comer Adel Belgaied, who despite registering to vote in 2008 will be voting in a primary for the first time ever this year, spent almost all of their campaign cash on consultants. The other $150,000 was spent on merchandise, mostly shirts and hats, $50,000 on eating out and another $52,000 at Trump's Mar A Lago resort. Conservatives don't normally react well to mismanaged finances in campaigns and these facts are going to create some doubt about this team's ability to sustain a campaign.

Steve Gaynor and Karrin Taylor Robson came in with big sums; Gaynor with $ 5 million and Karrin with $3.7 million and $3 million cash on hand.

Kimberly Yee, a strong candidate normally, recently dropped out of the race to run for reelection as Arizona State Treasurer.

Matt Salmon, who now has more cash on hand than Kari Lake, isn't inspiring many but has spent the last thirty years as either a lobbyist, a candidate or an elected official and is still a formidable candidate for people to watch out for.