Some local elections may be seeing record amounts raised and spent for races to be decided Nov. 8.

While there is no official ranking of spending on campaigns, filings with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance show campaigns raising amounts that far exceed spending in recent years.

In Warren County, the one contested race for state representative may surpass $250,000 in spending.

The 20th District seat held by Democrat Patti Minter has long been a target for Republicans. But Minter, Jody Richards and previous representatives have kept the seat comfortably in Democratic hands for decades.

The Republican-led state legislature, however, this year reconfigured the 20th District to split Bowling Green among three districts, putting many predominantly minority and reliably Democratic areas into other districts. The result is a much redder 20th district.

Candidates planning to spend more than $3,000 are required to file regular finance reports.

The latest reports from September show Minter with receipts of $103,215 and an ending balance of $65,569.

Her Republican opponent, Kevin Jackson, reported receipts of $121,752 and an ending balance of $110,381.

Minter was first elected in 2018 with 54% of the vote and re-elected in 2020 with 70% of the vote against her Republican challenger.

Jackson is a member of the Warren County Schools Board of Education.

Another race that has likely set a record in terms of money raised is that for Bowling Green City Commission.

Eleven candidates are vying for four spots.

Historically, most city commission candidates have raised and spent a few thousand dollars at most for the seats that previously paid $16,451.

Earlier this year, the commission, in a split vote, approved increasing the commission pay to $32,500.

Former Bowling Green Mayor Sandy Jones Boussard easily leads the funding field with reported receipts of $23,027. Boussard previously was running for the first district magistrate seat on Warren Fiscal Court, but had to withdraw from that race because of a mistake on her filing form. Boussard has directly contributed $12,500 to her commission campaign.

Boussard was followed by:

Stephanie Matthews – $16,415.

Incumbent Carlos Bailey – $9,615.

Johnalma Barnett – $8,940.

Incumbent Dana Beasley Brown – $8,515.

Justin Chaffin – $7,691.

Incumbent Melinda Hill – $3,900

Commission candidates who did not report any campaign receipts as of Sept. 13 were incumbent Sue Parrigin, Joe Denning, Don Langley and Nathan Morguelan.

Hill and Parrigin, along with Mayor Todd Alcott, voted for the commission pay increase. Beasley Brown and Bailey voted against it.

—See next week’s Daily News for a look at more campaign finance reports.