Where'd my donation go? Breaking down legislative candidate campaign spending

Cal Warwas and Emily Thabes had no idea how expensive campaigning would be before they ran for the state House of Representatives.

You can easily spend $4,000 running a two-month radio ad, Warwas said. As soon as you file with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, advertisers are trying to sell you their services. Some tried to charge Thabes $4,000 to $6,000 for website design, which she said felt like a grift.

Contributed

"I was given some guidance that really varied early on. I was hearing from one person that I needed to raise like, $40,000. I was hearing from another person I need to raise like, $80,000," she said. "And both of those numbers seemed astronomical to me at the beginning of this process."

Thabes, 46, of Bagley, is a DFLer. She's challenging Republican Rep. Matt Bliss to represent House District 2B, which includes stretches from White Earth to Blackduck to Leech Lake, wrapping around Bemidji without covering it.

Warwas, 50, of Eveleth, is himself a Republican incumbent, running for a second term representing the eastern Mesabi Range against DFLer Dan Horoshak.

Unlike statewide elections, there are usually not tens of millions of dollars pouring into Northern Minnesota legislative races. But there are tens of thousands of dollars spent in each race, with the funds largely coming from local donors and party units.

So where does that money go?

Elections

KAXE's 2026 Election Guide

KAXE's Election Guide includes statewide candidates and candidates for local offices throughout Northern Minnesota.

Candidates spent $3.3M+ on advertising

So far this year, rural Northern Minnesota candidates for state Senate and House have paid more than $3.3 million on advertising, representing roughly 80% of their spending. Website hosting and design, food and lodging each made up less than 1%.

That amount does not include ads purchased by outside groups supporting or opposing candidates or those purchased by political parties.

Not every campaign categorizes its spending in the same way, so it's challenging to break down exactly how much was spent on each type of advertising.

But some types can be more easily broken out and estimated. Roughly $175,000 was put toward signs and nearly $130,000 was spent on radio ads. Billboards ran candidates close to $63,000. Only around $45,000 was spent on newspaper ads.

Republican state Sen. Mark Johnson of East Grand Forks spent $530 on custom hockey pucks.

Thabes — whose $15,000 in advertising spending is the median for the region — spent $900 on branded back scratchers and shoehorns, aimed toward older voters.

"The conversation kinda went like this: 'I don't think that elderly people, especially in a care home, need much except for someone to just scratch their back and help them put on their shoes," she said. " ... They have been incredibly popular. I have had adults chase me down parade routes to get some."

Yard signs are incredibly expensive, both Thabes and Warwas said.

"When you already have a lot out in the public, you can spend less, like in a reelection, you can spend less having to go out and do those things," Warwas said. "I have a lot of large signs I was able to reuse, so that was a big saving for me."

Contributed

He said it's surprising just how much there is to spend campaign funds on, and advertisers approach candidates with ideas.

"You start to see tons of advertising that you never imagined before," he said.

One cold call that worked on Warwas was from someone who sells ads on TV screens in restaurants that run trivia or other intermittent graphics.

"The pitch was ... people are going to be there waiting for their food or whatever, talking to their friends, and they're going to be drawn to that," he said. "Whereas with a text or something, you're going to swipe that away or delete that or whatever, where this is going to come around however many minutes."

But Warwas acknowledged ads are everywhere — even if he is in some of them.

"I know everyone's looking forward to the advertising season being over so they can move on to the next thing," he said, "and I'll be glad it's over, too."

Contributions

The next biggest spending category for candidates ... is other candidates.

Not directly, as state statute prohibits direct sharing of campaign funds between candidates. But Northern Minnesota legislative candidates gave $242,000 to their political parties this year.

Some of these were smaller contributions of a few hundred or thousand dollars to local party units: Babbitt Mayor Andrea Zupancich gave $1,300 to the 8th Congressional District Republicans, and Hermantown business owner Aaron Schweiger gave $500 to the St. Louis County DFL.

The bulk of this category went to the political arms of the party's legislative caucuses.

State Sens. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown and Rob Kupec of Moorhead gave a combined $131,000 to the DFL Senate Caucus. Both candidates are among the top fundraisers this season as they try to fend off competitive Republican challengers.

The next biggest beneficiaries were the Republican's Senate Victory Fund and HRCC, or the House Republican Campaign Committee, which got $55,000 and $38,500, respectively.

The Republican committees were largely supported by candidates in safe red districts, some of whom otherwise did not spend much campaigning.

Sen. Keri Heintzeman of Nisswa has spent $42,000 this year — $35,000 of that was a contribution to the SVF.

"I support the Senate Republican caucus in many ways, including door-knocking across the state, attending events, and giving to the Senate Victory Fund," Heintzeman said in a written statement Thursday, Oct. 29. A representative said she was out door-knocking that day.

Republican Rep. Ben Davis of Mission Township gave $5,000 to the 41st Senate District Republicans. The race in the east Twin Cities suburbs is a rematch between DFL Sen. Judy Seeberger and Republican Rep. Tom Dippel. Seeberger won by just 321 votes in 2022, and the race is expected to be one that decides the balance of power in the Senate.

The caucus committees' biggest expenditures are generally to the state party and then to candidates. Other expenses include their own staff, consultants, research and polling.

Fines and fees, iPads and airfare

Access to voter lists for marketing purposes made up roughly 2% of candidates' spending this year.

Postage, supplies and mileage each represented 1%-1.5%, and website hosting, campaign managers, credit card processing fees, food and lodging each made up less than 1%.

The 50 legislative candidates in rural Northern Minnesota combine for nearly 2,300 lines of expenses. Here are a few that stuck out:

• Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar of Fredenberg Township and Rep. Josh Heintzeman of Nisswa paid for their chamber of commerce membership dues with campaign funds.
• Republican candidate for Senate Austin Peterson of Hawley paid a $400 fine from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board using campaign funds.
• Warwas and DFL Senate candidate Denise Slipy of Breezy Point both bought campaign iPads.
• Three candidates bought plane tickets:
  
  • Sen. Jason Rarick of Pine City spent $1,000 on a flight to Washington in January.
  • Sen. Johnson spent $1,500 on three flights in April and $394 on a flight in September.
  • Rep. Davis spent $700 on airfare to a "campaign conference/training" in August.

Where can I find this information?

You can download contributions and expenditures by all candidates here.

You can also search for reports by candidate here. The most recent report, "2026 Pre-General Report," can be found under the "Reports and Data" tab on each candidate's page.