BOSTON (AP) — Super PACs and other outside groups spent almost $17 million to influence voters in the just-completed race for governor in Massachusetts.
The data was released Thursday by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, which noted that 2014 was the first gubernatorial election in the Bay State since the U.S. Supreme Court relaxed restrictions on independent expenditures.
The bulk of the Super PAC money came from two groups, one supporting Republican Gov.-elect Charlie Baker and the other supporting the unsuccessful Democratic nominee Martha Coakley.
Commonwealth Future, which was primarily funded by the Republican Governors Association, spent $9.3 million on behalf of Baker.
Mass IEPAC reported $6.3 million in expenditures to support Coakley, with the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Democratic Governors Association and the group WOMEN VOTE! providing most of the funding.
