In the two weeks since Mission Local last published a campaign finance dispatch, a total of $2.7 million was put toward the San Francisco general election on Nov. 5, bringing the latest total to an eye-watering $45.6 million.
Since then, the Ethics Commission has also published more detailed data on campaign committees’ finances: On Thursday, every campaign was required to file their totals for money raised and spent from July 1 to Sept. 21. This included individual candidate committees, like those controlled directly by mayoral candidates and others, and third-party political action committees.
The mayor’s race is, by far, the priciest contest: A total of $23 million has been fundraised among the candidates running, the bulk of it from the Levi Strauss heir and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie. Then, the 15 propositions have fundraised $12.8 million, though most of that, $8.7 million, is from a single measure: TogetherSF’s charter reform, Proposition D, which could cap city commissions and expand mayoral power.
The supervisors and other candidates make up the remainder, $8.6 million.
Here’s what we can glean from these latest filings.
Aaron Peskin outraises his opponents in direct contributions
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin was the last major candidate to join the mayor’s race, and he has lagged behind some of his opponents in direct fundraising since — but during the last reporting period, he received more donor contributions than every other candidate.
- Peskin raised a total of $253,993 from contributions of $500 or less. During the same period, Mark Farrell raised $177,360, Mayor London Breed raised $140,169, Lurie raised $65,918 (excluding his own donations) and District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí raised $26,830.
Lurie, thanks to his own money, is still vastly ahead in terms of fundraising. While contributions to candidate committees are capped at $500, candidates are allowed to bypass this limit to their own campaigns and Lurie has given nearly $6.3 million to himself.
Peskin also gathered smaller contributions than his opponents. Candidate committees are not required to disclose donors who gave a total of less than $100. Instead, these donations are aggregated into a total donation amount.
- Peskin received the most from these unitemized, sub-$100 contributions: $15,501. That was followed by Breed with $8,503, Lurie with $5,088, Farrell with $2,456 and Safaí with $1,055.
Meanwhile, in the supervisor races, District 5 incumbent Dean Preston raised the most money between July 1 and Sept. 21, $44,613, bringing his total to $307,478 — more than any of his opponents. Preston is also the candidate who has the most money raised against him: A total of $297,347 has gone to a GrowSF PAC opposing him, largely from a small handful of wealthy tech executives like Emmett Shear and Garry Tan.
- Preston is followed by District 7 candidate Matt Boschetto, with $37,485 and District 3 candidate Sharon Lai, with $35,765. Both are leading in direct fundraising in their districts.
Business tax measure gets another boost
The Chamber of Commerce PAC is, unsurprisingly, getting involved in this election’s big tax measure:
- The business trade group gave a whopping $245,000 to Prop. M, the tax reform measure that would lower taxes on both small businesses and very large corporations in the city, crafted by both Peskin and Breed.
The group previously gave $4,000 against Prop. L, the other business tax measure on the ballot, which would tax ride-hailing and autonomous vehicle companies like Lyft, Uber, and Waymo to fund Muni.
Prop. M has raised a total of $1.23 million, (most of that thanks to Google, which donated $500,000) second only to Prop. D, which has raised $8.7 million.
Prop. D continues to wallop its competition and outpace every other measure combined, by several times. Since Sept. 18, Prop. D — which would also expand the power of the police chief and limit the Police Commission’s oversight — has taken in some big sums from deep pockets. The competing measure, Prop. E, has raised $27,404.
- Blake Byers, the founder of an investment firm, gave $50,000 to TogetherSF’s ballot committee supporting Proposition D, bringing his total contribution to that measure to $150,000.
- Alana Palmedo, the COO at a crypto investment firm, gave $15,000 in support of Farrell’s Proposition D committee and $10,000 to TogetherSF Action.
Big donations fly
Large donations continue to propel the money race in the November election: Most funds came from donations of $50,000 or more.
Since our last report on September 18, the PAC supporting Lurie has received donations from several investors:
- Jonathan Meeks, the managing director at a private equity firm who is based in Atherton, gave $100,000.
- Jonathan Adam Gans, the CEO of an investment firm, gave $98,000, bringing his total to $301,000.
- Adam Clammer, another investment firm CEO, gave $50,000, bringing his total to $150,000.
- James Clark, the managing director of an investment firm, gave $25,000, bringing his total to $50,000.
In addition to some other big-ticket donations:
- Grace Voorhis, a philanthropist, gave $50,000 to the PAC supporting Lurie.
- Ari Lurie, Lurie’s brother, gave another $50,000 to the PAC supporting Lurie, bringing his total to $150,000.
Other notable contributions:
- Thomas Coates, the Republican donor and rent-control foe who has long supported Farrell, gave another $30,000 to a pro-Farrell PAC. That brings his total spending backing Farrell to $500,500, plus another $500,000 from him and his wife to Farrell’s ballot measure committee for Prop. D.
- CG Bennington LP gave $100,000 to the PAC supporting Farrell. It is not clear what the limited partnership does, but it is managed by Curtis Gardner, according to the Secretary of State business registry. He was once a partner at the real estate investment firm Arroyo and Coates — alongside Thomas Coates.
- The California State Pipes and Trades Council, which represents plumbers and pipefitters in unions around the state, gave $50,000 to the PAC opposing Breed.
- The Operating Engineers 3 Statewide PAC, the union which represents heavy-equipment operators, gave $50,000 to the PAC supporting Breed.
- The San Francisco Apartment Association gave $50,000 to fight Proposition B, and $390 million bond measure to fund community health, street safety and shelters. “San Francisco continues to spend and spend on various projects without really making progress on the issues that matter to residents,” said Charley Goss of the San Francisco Apartment Association. “We have a $16 billion budget, an $800 million deficit, we have passed $5 billion in bonds over the past few years. The PAC felt we needed to draw a line in the sand.”
Additional reporting by Joe Rivano Barros.
Anything notable we’ve missed? Email me at kelly@missionlocal.com and we’ll get it into a future dispatch.
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