Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Democrat candidates raise more money than Republicans in California

May 18, 2022

Liz Writes Life

Primary Election is June 7

All registered voters should have received a “Sample Ballot and Voter Information Guide” in the mail earlier this month. This is for the Statewide Direct Primary Election that will be held Tuesday, June 7, 2022. Polls open at 7 a.m. on June 7th and close at 8 p.m. Your polling place is shown on the back of the cover.

Many people now use mail-in ballots; and because my precinct is so small in population, we also do mail-in. Mail-in ballots should be in the mail from our Siskiyou County Clerk’s office by May 13; and so we should be receiving them in our mail boxes this week.

When first opening the Sample Ballot booklet, I was shocked to find 26 candidates running for governor. Then, I was just as shocked to see that the major Republican candidates that ran for office during the recall election of Governor Gavin Newsom (two years ago) were not on the ballot. Larry Elder had galvanized the Republican base during the recall, but Kevin Faulconer and John Cox also made a big splash along with Kevin Kiley. Kiley is the only one running for office in this election and that is for the Congressional seat of the new Third District.

In reading over the names of those running for governor, I noticed there were 13 Republicans and the only name I recognized was our Dist. 1 CA. Senator Brian Dahle.

Because I didn’t recognize many other names, I went to Cal Matters.org and BallotPedia.org to learn about the candidates and races. I was surprised to learn that as of May 11, 2022, the candidates running for governor have raised and reported $11.2 million. Wow, that’s a lot of money!

The financial breakdown in the governor’s race is: Incumbent Democrat Newsom with $7.5 million raised. Following him is Republican Brian Dahle, who has raised $1.5 million; then Republican Jenny Rae LeRoux with $846,000; no party preference Michael Shellenberger with $647,300 and Republican Shawn Collins with $238,500.

Barely $3 million has been raised in the Lt. Governor’s race. Incumbent Democrat Eleni Kounalakis has raised $2.9 million and non-party affiliated David Hillberg reported $5,900. Republican David D. Fennell is also running, but did not report any fund raising.

Attorney General race is interesting. Xavier Becerra was elected in 2018 to the office. U.S. President Joe Biden tapped Becerra to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services in his cabinet leaving the state position open. Governor Newsom then appointed Democrat Rob Bonta to the office.

A total of $11.8 million has been raised by candidates running for Attorney General. Bonta has raised $7.4 million; non-party candidate Anne Marie Schubert has raised $2.2 million; Republican Nathan Hochman has raised $1.9 million and Republican Eric P. Early has raised $267,500.

An interesting and also confusing race is for two U.S. Senate positions. In one, Kamala Harris was elected in 2016 to the six-year term. When Joe Biden was endorsed by the Democrat Party as its U.S. presidential candidate, he chose Harris as his vice-presidential running mate and they became the new administration in Nov. 2020.  Governor Newsom then appointed Alex Padilla to complete the six-year term Harris had vacated. Padilla had been serving as California Secretary of State leaving that office open.

The two current U.S. Senators from California are Padilla and Dianne Feinstein with Feinstein’s term ending in 2024.  I can’t find any information that says she is retiring. So I am confused as to why the Sample Ballot says there are “two U.S. Senate contests on this ballot”? Oh, maybe, it is for the same position that Padilla is currently in – through being appointed? And then, election to the same office for the next six-year term?

(I will check into this situation and report back next week along with more info about our county elections.)

OK, now that that is clear as mud, let’s move on to the Secretary of State office. Because Padilla was appointed U.S. Senator, Gov. Newsom then appointed Democrat Assemblywoman from San Diego, Shirley Weber, as Secretary of State. She has raised $1.2 million and Republican Rachel Hamm is running against her and has reported $204,600.

Controller is a tough job. This candidate should be an all-knowing accountant in my book. Incumbent Betty Yee has termed-out and cannot run. So far, $11.8 million has been raised by the candidates. Democrat Yvonne Yiu reported $4.8 million; Republican Lanhee J. Chen raised $2.3 million; Democrat Steve Glazer reported $2.1 million; Democrat Malia M. Cohen reported $1.5 million and Democrat Ron Galperin raised $1 million.

The candidates for State Treasurer have raised a total of $1.9 million. Incumbent Democrat Fiona Ma who was elected in 2018 has raised $1.7 million; Republican Andrew Do has raised $200,900; and Republican Jack Guerrero reported $1,400.

Because I ran out of steam, I did not check on the candidates and how much money they have raised by those running for other state or U.S. offices. All I can say is that it takes a lot of money to run an election campaign and the Democrat Party has a stronghold in California.

May peace and calm be with you this week. Smile – just cuz it makes you feel better!

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County. Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.

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