Ex-San Jose mayor leads in funding over congressional opponent

With 20 days left before the November general election, two candidates racing to represent Silicon Valley in Congress each have more than $1 million in hand — and a wide gap between them.

Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has extended his funding lead over opponent Assemblymember Evan Low, raking in $1.1 million since the beginning of July through September. In that same timeframe, Low raised about $925,613. The bump in funding has left Liccardo with substantially more cash to burn in the three weeks leading up to the election.

Both candidates filed their October paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission on Tuesday, showing how much their campaigns spent and raised from July 1 to Sept. 30. They will be filing campaign finance documents one more time before Election Day.

Low raised less and cut back on spending. From July to September, he only spent $502,761, while Liccardo spent more than double that amount. Low’s more conservative spending has left him with $1.2 million on hand, still trailing behind Liccardo, who has $1.9 million left.

“Evan is running a people powered campaign backed by local firefighters, police officers, nurses and teachers. Sam’s campaign is a wholly owned subsidiary of a New York billionaire who has long supported Sam’s attacks on working people and the pensions they’ve earned,” Low’s Campaign Manager Lindsey Cobia told San José Spotlight.

Liccardo has maintained a lead over Low throughout the election. In total, he has raised more than $5.4 million since launching his campaign in 2023, while Low’s campaign is about $2 million behind, having raised a little more than $3.4 million in the same amount of time. Both campaigns kicked off in late 2023 after Rep. Anna Eshoo announced her retirement, and the race was already breaking the bank before the March primary.

“This data makes two distinctions readily apparent: first, less than 25% of Evan’s donations came from within the district, unlike Sam, who raised more than 60% of them his resources from people who live here,” Gil Rubinstein, spokesperson for Liccardo’s campaign, told San José Spotlight. “Second, since Sam has continued to out-fundraise his opponent, Evan has become desperate enough to illegally funnel $1.6 million in corporate contributions from big oil, PG&E and private prisons into this race.”

A recent federal elections complaint alleges Low’s state Assembly committee spent money on advertisements to support his federal campaign in Congressional District 16. Candidates cannot use funds from non-federal committees in a federal race unless they abide by federal regulations, such as federal contribution limits and restrictions on contributions from corporations. It marks the second complaint Low has received in this race, and Liccardo is also facing two complaints of his own.

The candidates have more support than what their campaigns have filed, in the form of independent expenditures, which are expenses made by separate political action committees without a candidate’s input. As of Tuesday, special interest groups have spent $1.2 million to support Low and $795,422 to support Liccardo.

Groups backed by California Waste Solutions, PG&E, East West Bank and the Human Rights Campaign, among others, have been spending thousands to support Low. Meanwhile, only one super PAC has been spending to support Liccardo — Neighbors for Results, which received $2 million in total from Liccardo’s billionaire buddy, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
After the March primary, thousands flowed from Neighbors for Results into another super PAC called Count the Vote, which paid the lion’s share of costs for the Congressional District 16 recount.

Check out San José Spotlight’s Election Guide for more information on voting in Santa Clara County and other candidates and measures on the ballot. The election is Nov. 5.

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter. Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X, formerly known as Twitter.