By Mason Herron
Image: San Diego Rostra
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With ballots set to mail to voters in the District 1 County Supervisor’s race next week, I wanted to provide an overview of the money situation across the various vehicles. Candidates and committees had to file a form 460 last week disclosing all spending and contributions since 5/17, which gives us a decent understanding of where the candidates and committees are currently at:
McCann for Supervisor has raised $353,411 in total, has spent $195,200, and has 176,669 cash on hand, as of 5/17.
Paloma Aguirre for Supervisor has raised $226,323 in total, spent $245,726.04, and has $52,928 cash on hand through 5/17.
Citizens for a Better South Bay- in support of John McCann for Supervisor 2025 has raised a total of $426,650 and spent 404,222, and has 81,427 cash on hand.
Committee for Safe and Affordable Communities in Support of John McCann for Supervisor 2025 has raised $120,000 from two sources (the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce PAC and the Building Industry Association of San Diego County PAC), but has not yet spent anything, and thus has $120,000 on hand.
Working Families to Support Paloma Aguirre for Board of Supervisors 2025, sponsored by Service Employees International Union Local 221 has raised $567,833, spent $561,330, with $2,000 on hand and a notable $154,552 in outstanding debt. However, since 5/17, the committee has received a contribution of $75,000.
You can view all of these 460 forms directly by clicking here.
Between McCann’s candidate committee cash on hand, and the resources available through the committees supporting him — compared to Paloma’s resources and those of her supporters — it would appear that McCann currently has the financial advantage. However, one thing to note is that while the business coalition often has to raise money incrementally, labor money can often move quickly and in larger chunks.
In other words, even though it appears the McCann network has more financial resources at the moment, that can all change in an instant, and typically has in previous similar races.
I should also note that these numbers are just from the committees that are overtly declared as supporting these candidates; there may be other committees that choose to spend money, but I’m hesitant to include general purpose committees in this list, as their cash on hand may be significantly higher than their intended spending, whereas primarily formed committees as listed above are essentially required to spend all of the funds in the D1 Supervisor race.
Another important factor is the financial resources of the county political parties, who can and will spend money in support of their endorsed candidates (or against their opponent), and can typically coordinate that spending with the candidate’s campaigns:
The San Diego County Democratic Party reported $273,395 cash on hand through 5/10, and has reported $300,600 in late contributions since that date. Since that date, they have reported $79,622.40 in late contributions to Paloma Aguirre, which could be in the form of either direct contributions, or in the form of member communications.
The Republican Party of San Diego County reported $115,067.89 cash on hand through 5/10, but has reported an additional $117,000 in late contributions since that time. They have reported $48,083.65 in late contributions since that date.
For party contributions, just because money has gone into the party around the time of the election doesn’t necessarily mean it will be spent on the party’s endorsed candidate, but you can assume with a reasonable degree of confidence that a good portion of the funds raised leading up to the election will be spent supporting the party’s endorsed candidate.
Thus far, about $154,000 has been spent via independent expenditures, with most of it going toward supporting McCann. You can track this spending using the D1 tracker.
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Image: San Diego Rostra