Getting your
Trinity Audioplayer ready...Outside groups have poured $74.1 million into the crowded California governor’s race ahead of Tuesday’s primary election as they look to propel their preferred candidates into the November runoff.
The massive sum spent through May 26 to support or oppose the eight leading candidates is more than double what was spent in 2018 — the last time the state’s highest office saw an open contest, according to an analysis of state campaign finance data.
Independent expenditure committees have no limit in what they can raise or spend, giving them sweeping power to influence the election. Candidates, though, are prohibited from coordinating or communicating with those campaigns, giving them distance from any attacks.
The spending has turned the race into a proxy fight for some of California’s most powerful interests, with labor unions, tech leaders and corporations trying to shape which candidates advance to November.
Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said that outside money can be just as effective, if not even more effective than money spent directly by the campaigns.
“It gives those committees the freedom to go negative,” he said. “If you’re a candidate the positive of going negative is you can knock down your opponent, but the problem with that is people may not like you for being a bully. But if it’s just some nameless, faceless (group) making this expenditure, people don’t know immediately who to blame and those negative attack ads can do their damage without reverberating against the source of the attack.”
Nearly half of all outside dollars, roughly $33.1 million, has been spent opposing billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, a progressive Democrat who has pumped $212.6 million of his own money into his bid. The main group opposing Steyer, called California is Not for Sale, has major funding from the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Association of Realtors. [
Another independent expenditure committee, named Californians for Resilient and Affordable Energy that has received $12.6 million in contributions from PG&E, has also funneled money into California is Not for Sale. By contrast, outside groups have spent $1.5 million supporting Steyer, largely from a committee backed by the California Nurses Association.
Steyer, who has vowed to slash utility rates and break up electric monopolies in the state, has used the spending by PG&E and other corporations against as evidence that he would challenge powerful interests as governor.
In a recent debate he said that PG&E has spent “millions of dollars to stop me, because I’m the person on this stage who’s the change agent. I’m the person who’s going to drive down costs for the people of California by taking on the special interests.”
Kousser said that it can be a “badge of honor if a corporation that generally has a bad reputation attacks you.”
“It shows voters that this corporation that they don’t love, if their enemy has an enemy in Tom Steyer, then maybe that’s their friend,” he said.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has seen the largest amount of outside financial support, with $21.7 million being spent in favor of his campaign, though one of the independent expenditure committees supporting his bid closed last week and the other returned a $1 million contribution to Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings. It is unknown why the refund was given or who initiated it. Hastings said in a social media post over the weekend, “I’m voting for Matt Mahan. I didn’t ask for any refund and they shouldn’t have done it. Go Matt.”
Despite having the second most amount of money behind him between the independent expenditure committees and his own campaign, Mahan has struggled to break through in the polls and would need a late surge to reach the November runoff.
The Back to Basics committee supporting him is backed by tech leaders and investors, including $3 million from billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz and $1.5 million from real estate developer Rick Caruso. A spokesperson for the committee did not respond to a request for comment. Union groups have spent $570,203 to oppose Mahan’s candidacy.
Former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, who saw a surge in the polls following ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit from the race amid sexual misconduct allegations, which he has denied, has had nearly $14 million spent in support of his campaign.
Outside groups had spent more than $7 million previously backing Swalwell, including expenditure committees tied to Uber, the California Medical Association and the dialysis company DaVita. Those groups though, which campaign finance reports indicate received partial refunds, have now turned to support Becerra.
Corporations including Chevron, Meta and McDonald’s have contributed to outside groups supporting Becerra, which Steyer has seized on, using it as political fodder to attack his opponent and allege that Becerra will protect their profits as governor.
Becerra’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but spokesperson Jonathan Underland told the Los Angeles Times earlier this week that Steyer is “now attacking the only candidate in the race who actually held Big Oil’s feet to the fire and beat (President Donald) Trump 100 times,” referring to the lawsuits Becerra filed as state attorney general.
While negative insinuations are often made about candidates who have corporations backing them through expenditure committees, Kousser said that it doesn’t mean the candidate is “bought and sold by any of these groups and will agree with them on every issue.” Instead, he said it shows a “comfort level.” “The fact that these groups are giving to him, I think shows that that they feel like his candidacy is a safer bet to win and his governorship is one that they would be more comfortable with than Tom Steyer, who might bring less predictability in how he’d lead the state from their point of view,” Kousser said.
Outside groups supporting or opposing the remaining five candidates — former Fox News host Steve Hilton, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — have collectively spent $3.2 million.
A group set up to oppose Hilton, the leading Republican in the race, has spent $1.8 million, with major funding from the Democratic Governors Association, SEIU California State Council for Working People and businessman Bill Bloomfield who has backed past Republican governor candidates.
Among the candidates, spending in the race has been dominated by Steyer, while the other seven candidates have collectively raised $60.1 million, according to campaign filings. Despite jumping into the race last, Mahan has raised the most with $15 million, followed by Hilton who has raised $13 million, Becerra who raised $11.2 million and Porter who raised $10.3 million.
The top two candidates, regardless of political party, will advance from Tuesday’s primary to the November runoff.