For the amount of money he spent in Tuesday's primary, Farouk Shami could have purchased each of his 87,268 voters, say, haircuts for about six months — or, perhaps, a high-end model CHI, his signature hair straightener.
The Houston Democrat and hair-care executive spent $135 per voter, records show, more than any other candidate on Tuesday's primary election ballot — and, by far, the most of any losing candidate.
By contrast, Railroad Commission candidate David Porter, who surprised political observers by knocking off Republican incumbent Victor Carrillo, essentially paid 5 cents for each vote cast in support of his campaign. And that isn't even the cheapest ballot box bang for the buck: Bill Burton, running in the Demcratic primary for land commissioner, lost narrowly to Hector Uribe despite spending only 2 cents per vote — and even though Uribe himself only spent 7 cents per vote.
Here's a list of the top 10 per-vote spenders:
| Candidate | Race | Party | Votes | Pct | Result | Per voter |
| Farouk Shami |
Governor |
D |
87,268 |
12.8% |
Loss |
$135 |
| Loretta A. Haldenwang |
House |
D |
1,044 |
55.7% |
Win |
$115 |
| Van Taylor |
House |
R |
4,581 |
33.5% |
Runoff |
$98 |
| Susan Curling |
House |
R |
3,061 |
20.0% |
Runoff |
$83 |
| Tara Rios Ybarra |
House |
D |
6,708 |
43.1% |
Loss |
$72 |
| Martin Basaldua |
House |
R |
1,954 |
12.8% |
Loss |
$72 |
| Sandra Rodriguez |
House |
D |
5,093 |
41.9% |
Loss |
$66 |
| Sergio Munoz Jr. |
House |
D |
7,071 |
58.1% |
Win |
$58 |
| Norma P. Chavez |
House |
D |
3,988 |
46.2% |
Runoff |
$56 |
| Wayne S. Richard |
House |
R |
3,485 |
25.5% |
Loss |
$53 |
Here's the bottom 10 — the candidates who spent the least per voter.
| Candidate | Race | Party | Votes | Pct | Result | Per voter |
| Ken Mercer |
SBOE |
R |
75,369 |
69.1% |
Win |
$0.18 |
| Sharon K. Russell |
Senate |
R |
15,517 |
29.1% |
Loss |
$0.17 |
| Robert M. Bohmfalk |
SBOE |
D |
2,252 |
6.0% |
Loss |
$0.13 |
| Josiah James Ingalls |
SBOE |
D |
3,574 |
9.6% |
Loss |
$0.11 |
| Eva M. Guzman |
SCOTX |
R |
721,437 |
65.3% |
Win |
$0.11 |
| Hector Uribe |
Land |
D |
292,486 |
51.7% |
Win |
$0.07 |
| Don McLeroy |
SBOE |
R |
57,528 |
49.6% |
Loss |
$0.05 |
| George M. Clayton |
SBOE |
R |
37,533 |
51.8% |
Win |
$0.05 |
| David J. Porter |
Railroad |
R |
732,885 |
60.7% |
Win |
$0.05 |
| Bill Burton |
Land |
D |
273,034 |
48.3% |
Loss |
$0.02 |
You can explore all the campaigns' per-voter spending with our latest data application.
