Data App: How Much Votes Cost

Was Farouk Shami, in fact, "on fire"? The Democratic gubernatorial candidate burned through campaign cash, spending $135 for every vote he received in Tuesday's primary on the way to getting trounced by Bill White — more than any other candidate on the ballot, and by far the most of any losing candidate. By contrast, Democratic land commissioner hopeful Bill Burton spent only 2 cents per vote in a narrow loss to Hector Uribe, who spent only 7 cents per vote himself. All told, candidates spent, on average, about $14 per vote. Explore each campaign's bang for the buck in our latest data application.

By Matt Stiles

March 5, 20105 AM Central

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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.

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Matt Stiles

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