Peskin leading in direct fundraising, Prop. M gets another boost

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.