Based on his campaign donations, the president of St. Paul College seems to favor Melvin Carter for St. Paul mayor.

Meanwhile, it looks like the owner of Summit Brewing is backing Pat Harris.

When it comes to campaign fundraising in the mayor’s race, the two former St. Paul council members are running almost neck and neck.

Harris, who has taken the lead for fundraising, has raised more than $287,000, with notable amounts flowing in from police and firefighters, local lawyers, restaurant owners and real estate executives.

Carter’s mayoral campaign has raised more than $265,000, with notable sums from school teachers, lawyers, religious leaders, government workers, school board members, and employees of nonprofit and advocacy organizations.

Of the 10 candidates in the St. Paul mayor’s race, no other campaigns come close for fundraising.

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Police: 15-year-old has life-threatening injuries after being shot in face in St. Paul Elizabeth Dickinson, who is running for the mayor’s seat under the Green Party banner, has raised more than $18,000, according to her eight-week pre-election report, which was filed Tuesday with the Ramsey County Elections office.

Tom Goldstein had raised roughly $20,000, including more than $8,000 from personal loans to his campaign, according to his pre-election filing.

Not all candidates got their campaign finance reports in by Tuesday’s deadline, but not all had to. Some candidates — such as Chris Holbrook and Tim Holden — have said they do not plan to do significant fundraising, if any at all.

Dai Thao, a city council member running for mayor, has sought and received campaign donations, but his report was unavailable as of Wednesday morning.

Heavy fundraising, which is almost required in a competitive mayor’s race, certainly buys a lot of lawn signs, but it doesn’t guarantee victory.

In 2005, then-Mayor Randy Kelly and challenger Chris Coleman broke local records by spending nearly $1.5 million between them — most of it on Kelly’s losing campaign.

Coleman won the mayor’s seat that year with almost 69 percent of the vote, defeating Kelly, who was unseated with 31 percent of the vote.

Carter’s donors include St. Paul College President Rassoul Dastmozd, Episcopal Homes CEO Marvin Plakut, St. Paul City Attorney Samuel Clark, St. Paul City Council President Russ Stark, and Matthew Swenson, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Dayton’s office.

In a written statement, Carter’s campaign noted that 70 percent of his donations are for $100 or less, “demonstrating grass-roots support” that draws from every ward of the city.

Harris has received multiple donations from executives associated with the real estate industry, such as Todd Johnson of the Johnson Brothers, Howard Paster of Paster Properties, Jim Stolpestad of the Exeter Group, Eric Weis of Weis Builders, and other partners from the Dominium group, OPUS and CBRE.

The Harris campaign has also been popular with owners of restaurants and eateries, including Summit Brewing, Mancini’s Restaurant, Wild Onion, the Nook, Colossal Cafe, My Burger, Green Mill and Sweet Martha’s Cookies.

Harris has drawn some support from employees of nonprofit groups, including Habitat for Humanity President Sue Haigh, a former chair of the Metropolitan Council.

The mayoral election is Nov. 7.