The @GovMikeHuckabee The PAC donated nearly $200,000 @ARGOP State level candidates on May 10. He is setting it up @GOP The agenda can be blocked without resistance in January. Even the mayor of Little Rock has big $$ backing S landers. #Arkansas #arpx
— Nancy Fancyboy, former GOP (@nancyfboy) November 1, 2022
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Might not win next week. We can still expect a top candidate for governor to surprise a Democrat Chris Jones. Sanders isn’t very likable, and she’s only exposing herself to a carefully selected audience. She takes no questions and offers little by way of specific plans, except for eliminating the income tax and thus the disability component of the state budget. Jones is going anywhere and everywhere, taking all the questions, and by some accounts, his sterling resume and witty personality have turned some independent-minded voters toward the Democrat for the first time since the Muslim from Kenya with a strange name.
But her father is doing all he can to plow the political ground for his daughter. And there is no better fertilizer than money. According to 2021-22 FEC records, former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s Huck PAC, a nonstop cash-generating huckster machine, is pouring $317,800 in cash into Arkansas political races this entire election cycle. The Huck PAC provides a tally of its expenses in Arkansas and is listed as giving $351,200, including $40,000 to Republican congressional candidates from Arkansas. But that list includes some candidates that aren’t reflected in the FEC records I’ve checked, and leaves out some that do appear.
A Twitter account I follow did a little digging that prompted me to check Federal Election Commission records for a full accounting.
Here’s what I found, first for suggested giving Huck PAC in May:
He gave $182,300 in 93 checks to Arkansas Republican candidates for legislative and statewide office. You name an obnoxious politician and he or she’s got a hunk of cash. Generally speaking, the most obnoxious received a maximum of $2,900 or so Tim Griffin $2,900 twice (perhaps for the primary and general election).
In the month of June, He favored eight Republican candidates Arkansas has a maximum prize pool of $2,900. Do you want disgust? How about Identify Lowery? That’s another $23,200 total.
In the month of July, He donated $20,000 to the anti-mayor Frank Scott PAC, Citizens for a Better Little Rock.
In August, He made 16 more contributions to Arkansas. All for a maximum of $2,900 or a total of $46,400. Three did not go to legislative candidates: $2,900 Eddie Howard for Pike County Judge; for Katherine Dudley For Quorum Court and Republican ideologue in Little Rock Chris Carnahan For the Supreme Court of Arkansas.
In September, He put more than $15,000 into the anti-Frank Scott PAC. Having a Democrat mayor of a city where Sarah governs is not what I do. (Even if voters reject it in next week’s governor’s race.)
In January, he gave $5,800 to both Senate candidates Mark Johnson and $2,900 to Cody Fulfer. That’s $8,700 a month.
Giving for this year’s election Started in 2021, when Huckabee delivered some real corkers in the second half of the year. He spent $11,600 — $5,800 on Jim Bob Duggar’s Senate candidate (whew, at least one ugly loser) and $5,800 on David Howell of Russellville, a preacher who finished a distant third in the Republican primary for the House seat.
In the first half of the year, He put $5,600 into his daughter’s race for governor and $5,600 into John Thurston’s race for Secretary of State. (Then the maximum contribution is $2,800.) So that’s another $11,200.
There may be more before the year is out.
Consider it a voter’s guide.
PS: Be clear. It’s not Mike Huckabee’s money. He uses constant direct mail pitches to gullible believers to collect the cash he offers. Fundraising costs a lot more than distributions, but that’s how grift works.
