Nearly $100 million has been spent by corporate and labor-funded committees on election campaigns in California this 12 months, including greater than $42 million last month alone.
These independent expenditure committees have gotten a growing financial force in legislative campaigns across the state: Since September 1, they’ve invested $51.5 million. That's 29% greater than the identical period in 2022, when the $40 million spent was 25% greater than in 2020 and almost twice as much as 2018.
As against direct contributions to legislative campaignsthere isn’t any limit to how much these outside groups can spend so long as they don’t coordinate with a candidate. The money is primarily used to purchase advertisements, mailings and text messages, which frequently attack the candidate's opponent.
Uber is the only largest source of independent spending; The ride-hailing company's political motion committee said it spent greater than $7 million, about 7% of all outside money.
For example, it invested greater than $443,000 in a contentious state Assembly race in Los Angeles, siding with Democrat Sade Elhawary over one other Democrat, Efren Martinez the open seating area.
The oil industry is the second-largest source of independent spending, producing greater than $4.7 million through a committee called the Coalition to Restore California's Middle Class, including energy, manufacturing and technology firms that pay gas, oil, jobs and taxes -dollars lost received hundreds of thousands from Chevron, Valero, Marathon and other oil firms.
And while the Oil Industry Committee is the second largest donor overall, it was by far essentially the most generous in the ultimate weeks of the campaign. Since Sept. 1, the committee has poured greater than $4 million into laws.
The second-largest donor since Sept. 1 — a gaggle of nurses and educators — went all-in on a race, donating $2.7 million to support Michelle Chambers, a Democrat who attended State Senate District 35 in Southern California against her Democratic colleague Laura Richardson.
The spending of those independent committees, often greater than $100,000 in a given race, can influence the consequence since the amounts may be higher than the spending of the candidates themselves.
In second place is Democrat Kipp Mueller, who has spent greater than $2.3 million against him in a single 12 months Southern California State Senate campaign against Republican Suzette Martinez Valladares. Martinez ranks third with nearly $2 million spent against him.
Uber has spent money supporting or opposing 26 candidates, including greater than $274,000 to support Richardson. The tech giant's biggest goal: greater than $990,000 to oppose Democrat Kathryn Lybarger, who lost a race for East Bay state Senate within the March primary.
Uber has been a significant player in California's election campaign before: Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and others spent greater than $200 million to influence voters in 2020 to approve Proposition 22 to exempt their staff from a state labor law .
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com