BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — According to new campaign finance numbers released by the state of Louisiana, Ted James has raised over a million dollars and spent nearly $470,000 since July in his bid to become the new mayor-president of East Baton Rouge. Incumbent Sharon Weston Broome has raised over $611,000 and spent just over $184,000 since July. “How much does the money make a difference in this particular race?" asked reporter John Rupolo. "It's huge. Even though Ted James raised a million dollars plus — it's an eye-popping number —but Sharon Weston Broome will have enough money to get her message out," said David Jacobs, the political reporter for online news publication LaPolitics. "I think that the race for the mayor-president in East Baton Rouge is really the hottest local race anywhere in Louisiana this year," said Jacobs. EBR voters to decide on amendment that packs many changes for city-parish government One name emerging in the race is candidate Sid Edwards. According to a recent Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce poll, Weston Broome was at 29%; James and Edwards tied at 23%; and Steve Myers pulled 3%. Edwards raised over $70,000, much lower than his opponents. "He is a newcomer to politics. He's a football coach and a school administrator, and he has the endorsement of the local GOP," said Jacobs. Jacobs said the issues drawing people to the polls are crime, traffic, drainage and quality of life. "I won't make a prediction on the race," he said. Latest News Tampa sees 5x the usual October rainfall due to Hurricane Milton New poll in EBR mayor-president race shows Weston Broome ahead, James outpacing in spending State leaders work to improve rural parts of Louisiana through multi-million-dollar grant Internet Archive data breach exposes more than 31 million user accounts: reports Byron leads NASCAR Cup playoffs as series shifts to Charlotte