A closer look at who's giving money to Jill Carter and Ellen Nichols

Mark Twain said there are three kinds of lies- "lies, damned lies and statistics."

I'll be charitable about the mailing I received from Ellen Nichols' campaign today and say that while it doesn't appear to be lies or damned lies, she certainly knows how to put a spin on statistics.

"78 percent of Jill Carter's money didn't come from local voters. Of the $635,239 Jill Carter has raised, $496,849, 78 cents of every dollar- came from PACs, corporations, and out-of-district special interests. Not from the people of Southwest Missouri."

That sounds horrible.

The numbers have changed a bit and Carter has raised $324,919.04 as of the 8 days before election filing with the Missouri Ethics Commission while the Show Me Values PAC that is supporting her had raised $343,200 at that point.

Nichols' accusation is the same kind that Carter could have used against Nichols' husband Bill White four years ago. The special interest political action committees always contribute to the incumbents.

Nichols notes that Carter has received $60,400 from gambling interests, something that I noted earlier in the Turner Report.

The gambling interests are sending out more money to incumbents this year because of the video lottery push. Four years ago, Bill White received maximum $2,400 contributions from Missouri Coalition for Video Lottery and J. J. Ventures Gaming of Missouri and $1,400 from the Missouri Gaming PAC.

The Southwest Missouri Patriot PAC that supported White received $10,500 from Penn National Gaming and $1,000 from Caesar's Enterprise Service, Las Vegas.

If White had beaten Carter four years ago, he would have been receiving these contributions.

A more interesting comparison is the number of local people contributing to the Carter and Nichols campaigns and where those people are from.

During the 2026 calendar year, Jill Carter received 84 contributions from voters in this district including the following:

Joplin 39

Carl Junction 4

Neosho 12

Seneca 4

Diamond 1

Goodman1

Reeds 1

Wentworth 2

Carthage 8

Webb City 5

Granby 2

Loma Linda 1

Carterville 2

Duenweg 2

During the same time period, Ellen Nichols received 56 contributions from the district, broken down aas follows:

Joplin 43

Carl Junction 4

Carthage 2

Carterville 1

Loma Linda 2

Diamond 1

Oronogo 2

Stella 1

Of the 56 local contributions Nichols received, at least 23 came from people associated with Freeman Health or Mercy, which is not a surprise considering Nichols' profession and having former Freeman CEO Paula Baker as her campaign treasurer.

Nichols definitely has a much larger percentage of local money coming into her campaign, especially since she loaned her campaign $350,000.

Six more days to go.