More than $1.5 million flows into 35th state Assembly race in final weeks

The race for the 35th California Assembly District has become a seven-figure contest, with state Democrats making an expensive push for the historically Republican-leaning district, according to the final round of campaign disclosure reports to be filed before the Nov. 8 election.

Reports filed last week with California’s secretary of state show that in the last filing period — from Sept. 25 through Oct. 22 — Democratic candidate Dawn Ortiz-Legg raised more than twice as much as her Republican opponent, Jordan Cunningham, with considerable help from the California Democratic Party.

Far less has been funneled into the race for California’s 17th Senate District, in which Democratic Sen. Bill Monning is being challenged by Republican Palmer Kain in a race considered safe for the incumbent.

California Assembly

Ortiz-Legg reported raising almost $1.07 million during the one-month period — the majority of that from the California Democratic Party — of the almost $1.75 million she raised in the election as of Oct. 22. Ortiz-Legg spent more this period than any other — almost $1.16 million. Her campaign has spent about $1.67 million during the race.

Ortiz-Legg, a San Luis Obispo-based solar energy consultant, ended the period with $118,204 in the bank, with a reported $34,870 in outstanding debts.

The California Democratic Party poured about $1 million into her campaign in the last period in both cash and nonmonetary contributions, bringing the amount it has spent on her campaign to about $1.12 million. Ortiz-Legg also brought in donations from campaign committees for various Democratic state Assembly members and candidates, and $5,000 from five political action committees for education and labor unions.

Cunningham, a Templeton-based attorney, raised $446,761 during the period, about 46 percent of his total $970,816 raised in the race. He spent $549,010, pushing his total spending this election over the million-dollar mark by about $28,000.

His contributions in the last period include $235,000 from the Republican Central Committee of San Luis Obispo County, $4,200 from Chevron and Exxon Mobil, and a combined total of $51,450 from 21 PACs, including the California Independent Petroleum Association, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the San Luis Obispo County Deputy Sheriffs Association.

Since those reports were filed, both candidates have listed a handful of late contribution reports. Ortiz-Legg reported $50,000 in last-minute contributions from the Del Norte County Democratic Central Committee and another $150,000 in cash from the California Democratic Party, which gave an additional $122,679 in nonmonetary contributions between Oct. 23 and Thursday afternoon.

Cunningham reported $11,828 in late contributions.

California Senate

In the race for the California’s 17th Senate District — which encompasses all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz counties as well as portions of Monterey and Santa Clara counties — Monning reported taking in a modest $86,650 in the last period, about 23 percent of the $368,846 he has raised this election. He continues to dominate Kain’s total fundraising efforts by more than 10-to-1.

Monning has spent somewhat frugally the entire race, spending $353,659 to defend his seat in a district with about 500,000 registered voters. During the last period, Monning spent $49,652, leaving him with $186,698 in cash and about $22,065 in outstanding debts.

As in previous filing periods, Monning enjoyed a wide swath of financial support from individuals, law enforcement and education PACs and several trade unions. The Forty Niners Co., which owns the football team, donated $2,000.

Kain, on the other hand, has enjoyed no support from the California Republican Party or any political action committees, raising a mere $2,781 last filing period, bringing his fundraising total to $33,285.

Kain spent about $600 more than he raised last period — or $47,757 total during the race — leaving him with about $2,107 on hand and $16,031 worth of outstanding debts.

This story was originally published November 3, 2016 at 7:11 PM with the headline "More than $1.5 million flows into 35th state Assembly race in final weeks."