Candidate pays back $50,000 loan to himself — weeks before Election Day

Rick Green. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

After officially cementing his place on the Nov. 6 ballot, Rick Green paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars for advertising and to consultants to kick-start the Third Congressional District’s general election.

But he also made sure someone else got paid: himself.

Green, who had loaned his campaign a combined $170,000 since launching his run last fall, reimbursed himself $50,000 of that with just weeks until Election Day. The repayment came after the primary — and at a time when a candidate’s financial demands can vary from lawn signs to staff salaries.

The Sept. 24 payment, disclosed on the Pepperell Republican’s most recent fund-raising report, was among his biggest expenses for that period, landing amid a series of “media production/placement” costs that ultimately topped $200,000 by the end of September.

Even with the repayment, Green entered October with about $216,000 on hand, giving him a slight edge in cash over Democratic nominee Lori Trahan, who emerged from an intense 10-Democrat primary and a near two-week recount to finish September with $193,000. Mike Mullen, an independent, is also running in the race.

Green — who has reported a net worth of at least $25 million, including his online auto parts company, 1A Auto Inc., and his $350,000 salary — declined to comment through a campaign spokesman.

Trahan, too, has fortified her own campaign with $371,000 in loans. She hasn’t paid any of that back ahead of the November vote, according to campaign disclosures and spokeswoman Gretchen Grosky. Trahan runs her own consulting firm, through which she made nearly $400,000 last year, according to a financial disclosure.

The Lowell native has also received some high-profile Democratic fund-raising help in recent weeks. Trahan appeared at a lunch fund-raiser at the Fairmont Copley Plaza with Ayanna Pressley, the Seventh Congressional District nominee; Senator Elizabeth Warren; and Representative Katherine Clark on Oct. 12 to seed a joint fund-raising account that Trahan and Pressley launched together.

Four days later, Trahan welcomed House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to Concord for a separate fund-raiser.

Green and Trahan are far from alone among Third District hopefuls who’ve put their own money behind their campaign. Mullen has put up $5,000 of his own cash, and in the Democratic primary, some candidates, Trahan included, poured even more in during that race’s final weeks.

But any repayments have so far waited for others. Democrat Rufus Gifford, who dropped $770,000 into his campaign, had not reimbursed himself by the end of September, after emerging from his unsuccessful run with about $248,000 left in his account, according to his latest campaign disclosure.

The same goes for Dan Koh, who narrowly lost to Trahan in a recount, and as of Sept. 30, hadn’t paid back the $50,000 he loaned his campaign. Koh raised more than $3.1 million in other donations, and had $66,000 left as of his most recent filing.