Two candidates for San Diego mayor have each raised more than $1 million so far, underscoring that this is a high stakes, high money contest. And it’s only the primary.
In the most recent campaign finance reporting period — March 18 through last Saturday, May 19, Carl DeMaio raised $372,590 and Nathan Fletcher raised $302,886. That brings their fundraising totals to about $1.6 and $1.3 million, respectively.
DeMaio continued to support his own campaign, donating $180,000 and loaning himself $39,840 during this last reporting period. This means that so far he has donated or lent himself about $740,000 in the past year.
Independent expenditure committees supporting and opposing some of the mayoral candidates have raised about $1.4 million dollars during the primary fundraising period. Such committees can spend money supporting or opposing a candidate but cannot coordinate with the candidates’ campaign committees.
For example, San Diegans for Nathan Fletcher has raised a total of $394,502 in cash and in-kind contributions, and a committee supporting Carl DeMaio has brought in $147,242. Two anti-DeMaio committees, San Diegans for Retirement Security and Too Extreme for San Diego, have rounded up almost $619,101 in cash and in-kind contributions.
San Diegans for Bonnie Dumanis raised $118,000 in the last period to support the district attorney’s mayoral bid.
IcPurple, Inc., a La Jolla-based Super PAC supporting Fletcher and independent candidates in other races, has not yet reported its expenditures in the mayoral race to the Federal Elections Commission. It has reported supporting other independent candidates in California and Maine.
The candidates are spending heavily on media buys. Fletcher reported spending about $508,000 on TV/cable airtime and production costs during the period. DeMaio spent about $650,000 on television costs.
Bob Filner, the lone Democrat in the race, raised $113,465 in cash this period, bringing his total raised to $425,856. He reported spending no money on TV airtime or production, but spent nearly $9,000 on campaign mailers.
Bonnie Dumanis’ fundraising slowed significantly during the most recent fundraising period as her campaign brought in just $50,292, which brings the amount of cash she’s raised to about $617,204.
