Gustafson outpaces Brown in new SupCo campaign fundraising report

The first campaign fundraising reports filed with the Commissioner of Political Practices since the primary election in June show Gustafson raised $243,837 between June 16 and August 15, with 684 individual contributions and no committee contributions. Her campaign spent $8,084 during that time, and, with more than $9,000 leftover from the primary election, she moves into the fall with $245,000 on hand.

Brown, the Republican head of the PSC, raised $93,293 since June, with 318 individual contributions and a pair of $700 contributions from the Montana Action Committee for Rural Electrification PAC and the Montana Independent Bankers PAC.

Neither of those groups appear to have reported any contributions, fundraising or individuals working on behalf of their committees to the COPP.

Brown had more than $88,000 left over from the primary and has since spent $21,410, leaving him with more than $160,000 in the bank with less than three months until Election Day.

Brown did not return an email Tuesday seeking comment on the report. 

Gustafson, in an emailed statement Tuesday, said her fundraising ground game demonstrated trust established with the electorate. 

"I am honored by the significant outpouring of volunteer support, personal encouragement, and donations to my campaign from supporters across Montana," she said. "Rather than a lobbyist and politician beholden to partisan extremists with no judicial experience, I believe Montanans want an experienced justice they can trust to protect not only their right to privacy and access to public land and water but their other unique Constitutional rights as well."

Gustafson and Brown were the top two vote-getters among three candidates in the June primary election, with Gustafson pulling in 48% of the vote to Brown's 36%. 

The race has drawn much comparison to the 2014 election between then-Justice Mike Wheat and challenger Lawrence VanDyke, which set a record for the $1.6 million in spending that largely came from outside groups. That record was broken the next election cycle between Dirk Sandefur, who was elected to the Supreme Court, and Kristen Juras, who is now lieutenant governor. The following cycle in 2018 saw no challengers to the two incumbents, which included Gustafson.

According to COPP records, the spending by outside committees on the two candidates in the current race has been limited since the primary, when the Republican State Central Committee spent $85,000 in support of Brown and the Montana Trial Lawyers Association's committee, Montanans for Liberty and Justice, put down $132,000 in support of Gustafson. 

Outside spending has been illustrative of the broader picture in the nonpartisan race, with Montana GOP officials like Gov. Greg Gianforte, Sen. Steve Daines and Attorney General Austin Knudsen backing Brown's candidacy, while trial lawyers and the wider legal community have put their money behind Gustafson's bid for re-election. 

Brown's campaign has taken considerable heat by Democrats and former Supreme Court justices for being too closely aligned with Republicans, although the commissioner contends he's stopped short of crossing any ethical lines defined in the Judicial Code of Conduct. But, like the GOP over the last year, Brown's campaign casts the Supreme Court as stacked with liberals, while holding himself out as the "constitutional conservative" and "pro-business" candidate.

In the other Supreme Court race, incumbent Justice Jim Rice reported roughly $3,500 raised since the primary. His opponent, Billings attorney Bill D'Alton, has not reported a single cent raised since filing for candidacy.