Leaders in polls ahead in donations
The front-runners in California’s contests for governor and U.S. Senate are also the leaders in fundraising for the June 5 primary, according to state and federal financial reports released Wednesday.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, leading in the polls to replace termedout Gov. Jerry Brown, took in $10 million for his campaign in 2017 and has collected more than $20 million since he opened his campaign in February 2015, just months after being re-elected lieutenant governor.
Newsom now has $19.5 million in the bank for his campaign, a figure that includes $2.9 million left from his 2014 re-election campaign.
“Gavin has more than double the cash reserves of any of his opponents, and that is largely due to the huge army of grassroots and small-dollar contributors who are funding his campaign,” said Nathan Click, a campaign spokesman. The campaign reported more than 108,000 individual contributions.
In the Senate race, incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein has a strong fundraising lead over her leading challenger, Los Angeles state Sen. Kevin de León, a fellow Democrat.
Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor first elected to the Senate in 1992, raised $1 million in the last three months of 2017 and also loaned $5 million of her own money to the campaign. At the end of the year, she had $9.8 million cash on hand.
When Feinstein announced the loan last week, de León, the Democratic leader of the state Senate, quickly accused her of trying to buy her re-election.
“When the wealthy elite fail to connect with voters, they reach for their checkbook,” he said in a statement.
But Feinstein’s ability to dip into her own wealth, along with her years of connections with donors across the state, spell trouble for the lesserknown de León, who has never run for office outside Los Angeles County.
De León, who entered the race in October, has raised $436,000 to challenge Feinstein and had $359,261 in the bank on Dec. 31.
By contrast, Buffy Wicks, a firsttime candidate running for an open East Bay Assembly seat, had $383,688 available for her campaign on that same date.
“To date, we have received tremendous grassroots support from thousands of small-dollar donors from all across California,” said Courtni Pugh, de León’s campaign manager. “We knew from the onset we were not going to be able to compete with Sen. Dianne Feinstein dollar for dollar.”
In the governor’s race, Newsom is one of the four Democrats and three Republicans making a serious run for the office.
State Treasurer John Chiang raised about $7 million for his campaign last year and has another $3.2 million left over from his 2014 campaign. He reported having about $9 million in the bank.
“John Chiang’s progressive vision is resonating with California voters,” said Fabien Levy, a campaign spokesman. “More and more California voters are stepping up and supporting John every day.”
Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles, raised $4.4 million last year for his run for governor. He has about $5.9 million in the bank.
Villaraigosa “continues to gain support,” said Luis Vizcaino, a campaign spokesman. “We are on track to advance to the November election.”
A fourth Democrat, former state schools chief Delaine Eastin, is lagging well behind in the money race. Eastin has collected $658,000 in campaign contributions and has $183,843 cash on hand. But that number is trimmed by the campaign’s $103,622 in unpaid debts.
On the Republican side of the governor’s race, John Cox, a San Diego County businessman, raised more than $3.5 million for his campaign, $3 million of it out of his own pocket. At the end of the year, he had nearly $2 million in the bank.
“There’s a lot of energy building behind the Cox campaign, now demonstrated by these new, individual voters John is bringing to the (Republican) party,” Matt Shupe, Cox’s communication director, said in an email.
The financial numbers are bleak for Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen. He took in $447,000 in contributions for 2017 and was left with $135,534 on Dec. 31. But that was more than erased by $342,000 in unpaid bills he reported, leaving his campaign deep in the red.
A third Republican, former Sacramento-area Rep. Doug Ose, didn’t enter the race until January, so he wasn’t required to file a financial statement.
One notable non-candidate for governor is poised for a comfortable — and active — political future.
While Brown, the termed-out governor, has collected only $400 in political contributions last year, he’s sitting on a $14.8 million war chest that can be used for a wide range of political and/or charitable causes. Expect some of it to be spent defending the state’s new gas tax if a repeal measure makes it to the November ballot.