Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has widened the gap between himself and his congressional opponent in their race to represent Silicon Valley.
Both candidates for Congressional District 16 have filed their last scheduled campaign finance papers before Election Day, and Liccardo has raised $2.1 million more than state Assemblymember Evan Low throughout the race for Congressional District 16, according to campaign finance forms filed Thursday. Liccardo’s campaign has spent double what Low’s has, leaving both candidates with less than $1 million each on hand.
The most recent filings show donations and expenses from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16. These are the last scheduled forms filed in the race before Election Day on Nov. 5, besides 24-hour filings for certain large expenditures or donations.
Liccardo has raised more than $5.6 million in total during his campaign, while Low has raised more than $3.5 million.
Liccardo raised an additional $202,622 in the first two weeks of October — and went on a spending spree in the same time. He spent $1.2 million on campaign advertisements, event space and other expenses made while reaching voters.
By contrast, Low has trailed in fundraising for the whole election. He was able to raise $125,602 in the latest filing and spent $525,175 on campaign advertisements, merchandise and more.
Liccardo holds a slight lead with $919,636 left to spend, more than Low’s $869,908 on hand.
Special interest groups have been spending at similar rates to their preferred candidates. Special interests have spent $1.7 million to back Liccardo. He has mostly been supported by a super PAC called Neighbors for Results, which has spent roughly $1.4 million to support him and $277,678 to oppose Low. Two committees associated with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have spent a total of $321,062 to support Liccardo as well.
Meanwhile, Low has been supported by a group of eight super PACs whose expenditures total to about $1.4 million. His top spender — Golden State Leadership Fund — spent $399,000 ahead of the March primary election on advertisements and polling to support Low. The PAC’s top donors include PG&E and East West Bank.
Other groups backing Low include the Voter Protection Project, whose top donor is California Waste Solutions, which is being investigated by the FBI along with its owner David Duong. The waste hauling company has previously supported projects in alignment with Liccardo, but hasn’t backed him in this election. Instead, Duong donated $6,600 to Low, though Low’s campaign said it handed the money off to a nonprofit.
Gil Rubinstein, a spokesperson for Liccardo’s campaign, called attention to the $82,000 boost Low’s campaign received from Voter Protection Project, which received a $10,000 donation from California Waste Solutions. He also pointed toward expenditures made by Low’s state committee for his Assembly seat, which has created advertisements featuring Low, though the committee has said they’re unrelated to his congressional run.
“While Evan Low is illegally funneling hundreds of thousands of donations from corporations like PG&E, Chevron, private prisons who aren’t permitted to give in federal races and California Waste Solutions executives currently under FBI investigation, Sam Liccardo is raising his campaign funds from our neighbors, in complete compliance with federal election laws,” Rubinstein told San José Spotlight.
Lindsey Cobia, Low’s campaign manager, previously emphasized that firefighters, police officers, nurses and teachers support Low’s campaign, while Liccardo is being supported by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“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,” Cobia said.
Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Editor’s note: California Waste Solutions has donated to San José Spotlight.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.