John Rafferty easily saw off the challenge of a former spokesman for Attorney General Kathleen Kane to earn the Republican Party’s nomination to replace her.

The State Senator defeated Joe Peters in the Apr. 26th primary by 27 points on the back of several well-timed key endorsements

A week before the primary, Rafferty picked up endorsements from the PA House GOP leadership, including Speaker Mike Turzai and Majority Leader Dave Reed.

The day before the primary, he scored his biggest endorsement, that of former Secretary of Homeland Security and PA Gov. Tom Ridge.

As Rafferty’s latest financial report shows, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania will be fully united behind him in his race against Josh Shapiro.

Top-Line Numbers

In the final two weeks of the primary race, Rafferty brought in almost $45K to add to his cash stockpile of $240K. More than two-thirds of his pre-primary take came from just three PACs.

Between April 12th and May 16th, Rafferty pulled in over $70K in contributions and spent $163,012. As of May 16th, Rafferty has $148,404 in cash on hand.

Contributions

12 people donated $7,700 to Rafferty’s campaign between Apr. 12th and 26th, and 34 contributed another $10,840 in the three weeks after the primary.

A dozen PACs also contributed in the final two weeks of the primary, kicking in $36,720, while 10 made contributions totalling $15,050 after his victory.

The Delaware County Republican Finance Committee, PA State Corrections Officers Association PAC and PA State Troopers Association PAC each donated $10K to Rafferty before the primary. Sen. Pat Toomey’s PAC backed Rafferty with $5K after he won the GOP’s nomination.

Four days before the primary, the Republican Party of Pennsylvania covered $89,711 worth of printing for Rafferty’s campaign.

Expenses

A week before receiving the printing help, Rafferty made a $72,500 contribution to the PA GOP, his largest expense of the reporting period.

Rafferty spent $138,425 in the final two weeks of the primary race and $24,587 in the three weeks following the election. Rafferty paid out over $77K on consulting from 6 firms: LN Consulting ($35,046); KC Consulting ($12,348); BrabenderCox ($12,064); MJM Strategies ($9,913); DTR Consulting ($6,000); and Ash Khare Consulting ($1,957).