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Though campaigns and fundraising efforts culminated on Election Day, and the deadline to submit campaign finance reports was more than a week before in-person voting, money poured into state races until Nov. 5.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, whose 29th District includes San Benito County and parts of Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties, raised $1.4 million this year. Rivas also had a second campaign committee, the California Dream for All Robert Rivas Ballot Measure Committee, which raised $314,414.89.
After the Oct. 25 deadline to report on contributions, Rivas reported receiving 50 donations totalling $234,150 for his campaign. The largest were $10,900 each, coming from four political action committees (PACs) representing engineers, nurses, highway patrol officers and service employees.
Rivas has been in office since 2018.
State Sen. John Laird was also backed by PACs. He raised $309,878.70 this year to defeat Tony Virrueta, who raised $16,941. Laird’s 17th District includes Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties.
After the deadline, Laird reported receiving 18 donations totalling $53,000. His largest donor was the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 Candidate PAC, which gave him $10,900. He also received two $5,500 donations from operating engineers and public employees PACs.
Laird was first elected to the Senate in 2020.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren of the 19th Congressional District did not report receiving contributions after the Oct. 24 deadline to file her financial statement. Of politicians who represent San Benito County, Lofgren raised the most money in 2024: $2.3 million to defeat challenger and Hollister resident Peter Hernandez, who raised $197,032.
Her biggest donors this year were two San Jose-based PACs, Zoe 2024 and Lofgren Victory Fund, which donated $96,656.66 and $75,069.89, respectively.
According to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics, Lofgren’s top individual contributors in 2023-24 were tech companies Google ($65,955) and Cisco Systems ($35,150), and two immigration law firms: Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP ($49,945) and Berry, Appleman & Leiden ($38,041).
Lofgren is a ranking member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship. She has been serving in Congress since 1995.
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