Previously we looked at the dire financial straits of Esther Charlestin’s candidacy for governor, where she barely cleared $12,000 in a race that calls for, by Howard Dean’s reckoning, at least 164 times that much money. Now it’s time to look at the Republican side of the ledger, where pretty much everybody can rightly cry poverty.

With one notable exception.

That would be state Rep. Scott Beck, running for the Northeast Kingdom Senate seat currently occupied by retiring Democrat Jane Kitchel. Beck has raised a rather stunning $35,565. (His likely Democratic opponent, Amanda Cochrane, has raised a respectable $7,165 and enjoys Kitchel’s active support.) Beck appears to be the only Republican candidate who has raised more than enough money to run a respectable race. Besides, of course, Gov. Phil Scott, The Exception To Every Republican Rule,

More to the point, Beck and the governor are about the only two Republicans who aren’t complete embarrassments when it comes to fundraising. Which shows you just how desperate the party’s situation is.

The VTGOP ought to be in a position for a nice little comeback in the Legislature, threatening to end the Dem/Prog supermajorities that imperil every single one of Scott’s many, many, many vetoes. And they’re not.

Instead, the wistful eyes of the donor class have largely turned to putative Democrat Stewart Ledbetter’s bid to wrest away a Senate seat from liberal Democrat Martine Gulick or Progressive firebrand Tanya Vyhovsky. Ledbetter has amassed the largest campaign kitty of any Statehouse candidate thanks primarily to Burlington-area business leaders. You know, the very people who would historically be bankrolling Republicans.

Many of those same business types are backing Beck. His list of $1,000 donors include quite a few names who showed up on Ledbetter’s campaign finance report: Three people named Tarrant, Bruce Lisman, Scott Milne, Ray Pecor, Eric Farrell, Craig Bond, C.B. Properties, and one Boardman apiece (Scott B gave to Ledbetter, Brian B donated to Beck). Giving to Beck but not Ledbetter: Construction magnate Scott Ireland, Stratton Aviation CEO Ethan Fischer, BMW dealer Steele Dubrul, financial advisor Robert Dimick (who actually lives in Beck’s district!), Republican Rep. Eileen Dickinson, farmer and ag supplies dealer Leslie Morrison, CPA Jason Hamilton, and developer Larry Williams.

Pretty much all those people (except Dimick) hail from the Burlington area, but they know their money would go down the toilet if they gave it to most Republican candidates or the VTGOP itself.

In stark contrast to Beck are a pair of fellow state representatives trying to jump to the Senate: Patrick Brennan and Chris Mattos. Brennan is seeking the Grand Isle seat formerly held by Phil Scott’s favorite Democrat, Dick Mazza. Brennan has served 22 years in the House including nine as chair of the House Transportation Committee. He’s not my cup of ideological tea, but he’s a got some heft and credibility.

So how exactly has he managed to raise a paltry $3,550, including $1,000 from himself? (He’s already spent over $4,000, so he was in the red as of July 1.)

Brennan has only one four-figure donor: Realtor Charlotte Gardner, who also gave big to Ledbetter. Otherwise the Burlington area business community is absent from Brennan’s finance reports.

Grand Isle would seem to be a prime pickup opportunity for the VTGOP, which needs to flip four seats to eliminate the Dems’ Senate supermajority. And yet Brennan, a worthy, experienced candidate, is withering on the vine.

Ditto Rep. Chris Mattos, running in the allegedly conservative-leaning Chittenden North district, currently held by incumbent Democrat Irene Wrenner. Mattos should be a strong candidate but has somehow raised only $1,300 — all of it from Republican Party committees.

The only Republican seeking to flip a Dem seat who’s actually got money, besides Beck, is Andrea Murray of Windsor County with $9,566. Two problems: Her district is overwhelmingly Democratic so she’s not gonna win, and she gave her own campaign all but $101.50 of that total. She only has one donor not named “Andrea Murray.”

Now let’s look at the NEK seat being vacated by conservative Democrat Bobby Starr, which ought to be another opportunity for Republicans. Well, Democratic Rep. Katherine Sims is second only to Ledbetter among her party’s Senate candidates with more than $42,000 raised. The two Republicans in the primary? Aime Conrad Bellevance hasn’t filed a report. Samuel Douglass reports a halfway decent $5,788, none of it from himself. But the Republican winner will face an uphill battle against the well-heeled Sims.

Did I mention that Douglass thinks Fox News is too liberal, that the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse constituted “justice,” and that mask and vaccine mandates are “tyranny”? Yeah, he’s one of those. Good luck against a serious, well-funded Democrat.

You’d think the extremely senior Democratic Sen. Mark MacDonald might be vulnerable in the purple precincts of Orange County, but his likely Republican rival Larry Hart Sr. has yet to report any fundraising or spending.

Elsewhere among Republican Senate candidates, non-incumbent division: Lesley Bienvenue of deep blue Addison County has raised $1,721, all of it from herself; fellow Addisonian Steve Heffernan reports a single donation of $500 from the metal recycling business he owns; Washington County’s Donald Koch has raised $1,420, most of it from himself and his family; Bruce Roy of WIlliston has raised $1,830, the vast majority in a single $1,680 gift from a Marie Roy of North Carolina; Windham County’s Dale Gassett and Windsor County’s Jack Williams have each raised zero dollars; and the following haven’t filed a report as of July 9: Landel Cochran, Jonathan Gleason, and Robert Ruhlin.

That’s it for Republicans seeking to turn Democratic Senate seats red. Pretty damn grim. They still have a chance to kill the Senate supermajority, but they’re making it a lot harder on themselves.

Even worse is the prospective statewide ticket — not including, need I say, Phil Scott.

There are two candidates running for lieutenant governor. Former Democratic senator John Rodgers, touted in the media as a legitimate contender, raised no money at all. Perpetual candidate Gregory Thayer raised $2,250 including $1,000 from himself. Josh Bechhoefer, who’s taking on the very well-funded Treasurer Mike Pieciak, has yet to file a campaign finance report. And H. Brooke Paige, the only Republican entered in the contests for Auditor, Attorney General and Secretary of State, has not reported any fundraising or campaign spending.

Aa for the VTGOP’s two federal candidates, Scary Eagle Man Gerald Malloy has raised close to $49,000 for the two-year campaign cycle. Which is nice by VTGOP standards, but pales in comparison to incumbent Sen. Bernie Sanders’ $4 million-plus. Mark Coester, the fascist-adjacent candidate running against U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, has yet to report any campaign activity to the Federal Election Commission.

I haven’t tried to explore the finances of the dozens of Republicans running for the House because, well, I have a life. But considering the fact that about half of them began the race with no real hope of winning because they were (1) far-right Trumpy types, (2) running in safe Democratic districts, or (3) both, I feel safe in assuming that they aren’t lighting the world on fire when it comes to fundraising.

So what does the VTGOP have to offer? a very popular incumbent, a widely-respected state representative running a well-funded campaign for a state Senate seat, and…

Er…

… that’s about it.

Phil Scott aside, and do I even need to keep saying that?, the Vermont Republican Party hasn’t been competitive for years. If anything, it’s getting worse as more county organizations get taken over by the Trump contingent. Maybe things will start to change after Trump leaves the scene, but that’s a wild card no one can predict. Does the party find a way out of the wilderness before Scott steps aside? If not, where the hell do they go after that?