Data App: How Much Votes Cost

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: 

Here's the bottom 10 — the candidates who spent the least per voter.

You can explore all the campaigns' per-voter spending with our latest data application.