Daniel Shih getting out the vote at the 43rd Democratic caucus. (Image: danshih.com)

Among the eight candidates vying to represent the 43rd District in the Washington House next year, none in the field of newcomers enjoys an obvious advantage in name recognition.

However, one has taken a breakaway lead in raising cash.

Seattle trial lawyer Daniel Shih has raised $77,682 in the race so face, more than double his next closest opponent. Shih (pronounced “she”) is an attorney with Susman Godfrey and a board member with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.

Shih has also spent the most in the two-month-old race — some of those funds going to free coffee and snacks for 43rd district caucus delegates on Sunday.

Fundraising and poll numbers, of course, are not the healthiest metric for tracking an election. As the campaigns continue, candidate interviews and forums should provide better insight into how candidates stack up against each other on more important issues.

Homeless advocate Nicole Macri is currently second in fundraising, with $32,825 amassed so far. The director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center entered the race in February.

Danielle Askini, trans activists and executive director of the Gender Justice League, has raised the third most in the race with $23,045. Askini says she would be the first trans person to hold elected office in the state. Taking a page from the Bernie Sanders and Kshama Sawant camps, the Askini campaign has touted its lead in the total number of donors as evidence of widespread grassroots support.

In March, CHS reported on the candidacy of former 43rd District Democrat chair Scott Forbes as the Montlake lawyer became the 7th candidate to join the state race. Marcus Courtney, a former Microsoft contractor who went on to start a labor union representing the region’s tech sector, made it six when he entered later that month.

Political consultant and LGBTQ advocate Thomas Pitchford and Sameer Ranade, a Capitol Hill resident and campaign associate for the Washington Environmental Council, are also in the running. The latest candidate to join the race, Microsoft social media manager John Eddy, has a ways to go to catch up in fundraising.

The 43rd covers several neighborhoods on both sides of the cut, including Capitol Hill north of E Madison, University District, Madison Park, Montlake, Wallingford, Eastlake, Greenlake and parts of Fremont, Ravenna, South Lake Union and downtown.

Whoever 43rd district voters send to Olympia will be part of the final showdown to address the state’s looming $3.5 billion budget shortfall in teacher pay. Lawmakers this session punted the final debate to 2017, when the Legislature will have to come up with a way to meet the demands the State Supreme Court laid out in its McCleary decision.

The 43rd District race opened up in December when Rep. Brady Walkinshaw announced his candidacy for the 7th Congressional District to replace outgoing Rep. Jim McDermott. Seven other candidates are in the running for the rare opening in Seattle’s congressional district.