City Council candidate Jeff Erlanger holds a wide margin — thousands of dollars — in campaign contributions among the candidates in the race for the District 8 seat, and several competitors are concerned about the difference in fundraising.

According to his campaign-finance reports, Erlanger received $9,563 in campaign contributions and spent $3,561. Austin King is the District 8 candidate with the next-highest amount of campaign contributions, at $1,286.

Michael Hanson, who is also running in District 8, said Erlanger’s fund is a “ridiculous amount of money” and could have a significant impact on the election’s outcome.

Hanson said Erlanger’s fundraising advantage gives him a huge edge in the race against other candidates because running a campaign in a student district can be expensive.

“You have to continually hit students over and over with information,” Hanson said.

Nathan Naze, another District 8 candidate, disagreed. He said the smaller local election enabled candidates to meet everyone in their district, negating the need for an expensive campaign.

Hanson was bothered that most of the money Erlanger collected came from outside of the student district and suggested most of the money came from connections through Erlanger’s parents, who are both University of Wisconsin professors.

A majority of the money in Erlanger’s fund did come from professors and medical professionals. Erlanger, who is quadriplegic, said the money is primarily from friends, former teachers and medical staff who have helped him with his disability.

“Most of the money is from outside of the district, but 90 percent of it is from Madison,” Erlanger said. He said any donations from out of state came from relatives.

“I say with certainty that I know every person who donated because they are either a personal friend or a relative,” Erlanger said.

Erlanger attributed the generosity of friends to his lifelong Madison residency and said if the other candidates had lived in Madison their entire lives they could have raised the same amount.

Hanson said the ads run by Erlanger in the student newspapers were cost-prohibitive to the other candidates.

Frank Harris said money is making a difference in the campaign, especially in promoting name recognition. Harris, who is also running in the district, said the source of the money is more important than the amount of money raised.

Erlanger’s campaign-finance reports list several small contributors’ occupations as “unknown,” but most of the donors’ jobs are noted. Candidates are not required by law to include occupations for contributions of less than $100, and Erlanger said he is proud how many of his contributors’ occupations he listed.

“It’s important to know where the money is coming from,” Erlanger said.

Candidate Austin King said the money is “absolutely skewing the race” and said although the other candidates could compete with him monetarily, they could not beat him through grassroots campaigning.

“He probably needs the money because he is not a student and he has no peers on campus,” King said.