Wagga candidates raised almost $84,000 from donors and their own pockets during the byelection, according to disclosures to the NSW Electoral Commission.
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The biggest financial contributor to independent MP Joe McGirr's victory was the candidate himself.
Dr McGirr's disclosure showed he gave a total of $27,000 to his campaign's account across three transactions, beginning two days after he announced his candidacy.
Dr McGirr told The Daily Advertiser that he had run a "modest" campaign and the Liberal Party would have spent far more than he had in its attempt to hold the seat.
"I think I produced a fraction of material that (the major parties) did," he said.
"You have still got to run commercials. I think I was pretty modest in the advertising that I did and it's not cheap.
"You have still got to do corflutes and flyers and distribute them. I don't think I was extravagant in what I spent, it just costs money for advertising in print, on social media and TV."
Dr McGirr's campaign also raised $6159 from donations including $2500 from Dr Catherine Harding, the head of the Rural Clinical Subschool in Wagga, and $2500 from Wagga furniture maker Andrew Blake.
Labor candidate Dan Hayes brought in the most money from external sources, raising more than $8400 from the annual Eddie Graham Dinner with Senator Kristina Keneally as guest speaker and $1104 in donations.
"People were excited about bringing a change to Wagga and this is reflected in the support people gave in both funding and their time to helping out," Mr Hayes said.
There are gaps in the paperwork, with the campaign for Liberal candidate Julia Ham filing a 'nil disclosure' and Christian Democratic Party candidate Thomas Arentz not filing a disclosure at all.
Mr Hayes questioned the lack of detail from the Liberal campaign.
"It is extremely odd that the Liberal Party do not disclose their donations for the byelection," he said.
A Liberal Party spokesperson said any donations or fundraising related to the byelection had been declared by the NSW state-level division.
The Liberal NSW division has declared about 1200 donations over the past six months, covering the entire state, but none appeared to have been labeled as related to Wagga or Julia Ham.
The largest total fundraising was by independent candidate Paul Funnell, who gave his own campaign more than $40,900.
Mr Funnell declared his contributions as a series of purchases related to video production and advertising across newspapers, social media and TV.
"I did spend a lot of money; I thought it was very important but I have always funded by own campaigns and I don't accept donations," he said.
"It is a case of having to spend serious money to keep up with the major parties.
"That is what it takes to run a campaign properly. We ran a very good campaign, obviously we weren't successful but so be it, you put it down to experience and move on."
Disclosures by Greens candidate Ray Goodlass and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party candidate Seb McDonagh showed no incoming donations and small outgoing donations to other political groups.
Wagga byelection candidates will have to disclose their expenditures to the NSW Electoral Commission at a later date.
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