Councilman Carl DeMaio outspent and outraised Congressman Bob Filner in the primary election for San Diego mayor, but pro-Filner forces are lining up to make the runoff in November competitive and expensive.
The final campaign finance reports for the city's June primary were filed yesterday. They document money raised and spent by the candidates from June 1 through June 30, and includes the days leading up to the June 5 election.
DeMaio reported raising nearly $97,000 in June, bringing his total raised this election to about $1.9 million dollars. This includes about $740,000 that the councilman has lent or donated to his campaign. DeMaio did not report making any personal contributions this period.
Filner reported raising about $29,000 in June, bringing his total to $517,000. But Filner's financial support appears to be increasing. In the past three weeks, two independent expenditure committees sprung up in support of Filner. These committees are not allowed to coordinate efforts with candidates, but they can raise and spend substantial amounts for candidate they back. The committees have not yet reported any money raised or spent.
Taxpayers for Carl DeMaio, an independent expenditure committee that supports the councilman, reported raising no money in the most recent filing period, and spending $335.
In June alone, DeMaio spent about four times as much as Filner. Much of the $207,000 his campaign spent went to office operations, campaign consultants and postage. His campaign also reported spending $19,500 for services from a Washington, D.C. media production company.
Filner reported spending nearly $52,000, mostly on workers’ salaries, staff travel and office expenses. His only media buy appeared to be a $500 ad in the San Diego Monitor News, a community publication in Lemon Grove.
As of June 30, DeMaio reported having about $115,000 cash on hand; Filner about $42,000.
The two major mayoral candidates who didn’t make it through the primary, State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, are rounding out their campaigns with little debt. Fletcher’s camp raised almost $30,000 in the month of June, more than enough to cover his committee’s $16,614 in unpaid bills. Dumanis brought in $2,525, but has more than $57,000 cash on hand to help cover her $65,000 debt, much of which consists of loans the candidate made to her campaign.
In the race for the city’s only remaining contested council seat, First District Councilwoman Sherri Lightner raised almost twice as much as her challenger, Ray Ellis, during the most recent fundraising period, but she still fell short overall. The incumbent brought in $44,445 in cash in June to her opponent’s $25,100.
But Ellis outraised and outspent the incumbent significantly and ended up garnering about 46 percent of the vote to Lightner’s 42 percent. Through loans and donations, Ellis, a businessman and former president of the city’s retirement board, has also put about $120,000 into his own campaign. Lightner has donated $1,000 to her committee.
Since they began fundraising in 2011, Ellis has raised about $365,000 to Lightner's $248,000.
