Brian Shortsleeve, GOP candidate for governor, raised $417K in May, state data shows

Brian Shortsleeve a venture capitalist and former MBTA official running for governor as a Republican raised more than last month a hefty sum that featured thousands in top-dollar donations by business executives from all across the country according to state details The -year-old Barnstable Republican touted the May cash haul as the largest of any conservative candidate for governor challenger or incumbent in the first filing period following an announcement or declaration of candidacy Holly Robichaud Shortsleeve s political strategist noted any Republican who hopes to defeat Gov Maura Healey in next year s statewide voting will need to do more than just stroke a check They will need to show broad encouragement from people who believe in them and their message enough to open their own checkbooks to assistance the cause Brian s record-breaking fundraising from people all across the commonwealth demonstrates that he is the only candidate who can take the fight to Healey and win Robichaud commented in a report Monday Robichaud commented former Gov Charlie Baker a Republican set the last fundraising record for the first filing period after a candidacy announcement at during his reelection campaign in Shortsleeve s backers ranged from founders of several of the nation s largest companies to former elected functionaries in Massachusetts according to records on file with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance The contributions also came from a mix of out-of-state and in-state donors with dollars also pouring in from Florida Texas Louisiana Vermont New York and North Carolina state figures established Shortsleeve who launched his campaign May drew from Niraj Shah the co-founder of Boston-based Wayfair an e-commerce company that focuses on furniture and home goods Ernie Boch Jr the local politically functioning billionaire who runs Subaru of New England also handed Shortsleeve last month as did Ray Washburne the Dallas Texas-based board chairman of the gas company Sunoco according to state records Scott Brown the former U S senator for Massachusetts who is explained to be considering running for office in New Hampshire donated to Shortsleeve according to state records Former Massachusetts Lt Gov Kerry Healey who served with former Gov Mitt Romney also gave Shortsleeve state statistics shows Brian Dowling a senior reporter covering Boston courts at Law and former Herald reporter also donated to Shortsleeve according to campaign finance records Robichaud Shortsleeve s strategist noted the campaign refunded a single donation bringing the total haul from last to before expenses Fundraising material for Mike Kennealy a Lexington Republican and former cabinet secretary under Baker was not instantly available Monday but a spokesperson for the gubernatorial hopeful slammed Shortsleeve s numbers No amount of money Brian Shortsleeve raises can erase his failures at the MBTA or recover the millions wasted on a rail deal with the Chinese Communist Party and an utterly botched Green Line Extension the spokesperson Logan Trupiano declared in a declaration Healey who stated plans to run for reelection earlier this year raised at least in May according to individual deposit reports posted to the state s campaign finance website But her cash intake from last month could change when her organization files a final summary for the month