When it comes to political campaigns, does the candidate with the most money always win?

Perhaps that isn’t always the case, but District 27 and 27B state congressional candidates agree that money doesn’t hurt.

“What the money does is it gives you access to advertisements and to the billboards,” State Senate candidate and Austin school board member Kathy Green said. “Obviously the more advertising you have, the more your name and your face is out there before the public. Having the money up front is an advantage in a campaign.”

Rep. Jeanne Poppe, the Democratic incumbent, said that while fundraising is important in a campaign, meeting voters is also a priority.

“One of my first times running I didn’t have as much money as the incumbent at the time, and I actually needed to do more people raising rather than just fundraising,” Poppe said. “But I think (money) might be an advantage. It’s not necessarily the deciding factor.”

Both Poppe and Sen. Dan Sparks, the Democratic incumbent running for re-election to his state Senate seat, had cash balances on Jan. 1, 2010. Poppe had $9,395.14 in her account and Sparks had $15,760.05.

Neither Republican challenger Green nor state House of Representative hopeful Jennifer Gumbel had balances in their campaign accounts as of the first of the year.

Gumbel attributes this difference to incumbency.

“They started out where they had money in the bank before any of us (challengers) even announced (our candidacy),” Gumbel said. “That’s an incumbent thing.”

Another trend that Gumbel thinks relates to a difference between an incumbent campaign and a challenger campaign is the lack of in-kind contributions from democratic candidates.