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Arlington mayor's opponent got $100,000 in campaign contributions from 2 donors

Arlington mayor candidates sit at a a table that bears a navy blue Arlington, Texas, NAACP drop cloth that says "When we fight we win." Incumbent Jim Ross, left, wears a suit and button down and is crossing his hands. To his right, challenger Amy Cearnal speaks into a microphone. She's wearing a yellow and orange dress.
Kailey Broussard
/
四虎影院
Incumbent Arlington Mayor Jim Ross, left, and challenger Amy Cearnal, right, speak at an Arlington NAACP candidate forum April 5, 2023 at UT Arlington. The two candidates are both business owners. Ross is also an attorney and Ceranal is also a realtor.

Amy Cearnal鈥檚 campaign for Arlington mayor got a boost in donations last month.

Cearnal raised $116,789.39 between late March and late April, according to her Most of that money came from two donors.

John Moritz donated a total of $50,000 to Cearnal鈥檚 campaign, half on March 29 and half April 12. The address for Moritz listed on Cearnal鈥檚 campaign finance report is for Dollar Car Sales, a used car dealership in Arlington.

Gerald H. Stool also donated a total of $50,000 to the campaign on March 31 and April 17. Stool is the founding principal of Dallas-based real estate firm Alamo Manhattan, according to his Cearnal is also a Realtor. She owns Front Real Estate Co. and works as a broker.

Cearnal was behind incumbent Mayor Jim Ross in her previous . She raised $9,283.46 from mid-February to the end of March. raised $91,160 from the beginning of January to late March.

But the $100,000 from Moritz and Stool puts Cearnal ahead of Ross in fundraising for the last stretch of the campaign 鈥 raised $39,319 between late March and the end of April.

Cearnal filed for a place on the ballot on the last day of filing when she saw Ross was about to run for reelection uncontested.

鈥淲e just feel like that鈥檚 never the best thing for all of us, that we need to make sure that we鈥檙e always keeping government in check and making sure that everything is running as smoothly as it can,鈥 she said in a previous interview with 四虎影院. 鈥淚 wanted to just come in and be a part of the race and show a different alternative.鈥

四虎影院鈥檚 Kailey Broussard contributed reporting.

Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.

Caroline Love is a corps member for 四虎影院.

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Caroline Love covers Collin County for 四虎影院 and is a member of the Report for America corps. Previously, Caroline covered daily news at Houston Public Media. She has a master's degree from Northwestern University with an emphasis on investigative social justice journalism. During grad school, she reported three feature stories for 四虎影院. She also has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Christian University and interned with 四虎影院's Think in 2019.