Tom Steyer outspends rivals by tens of millions, but can’t shake them in polls
For months, Democrat Tom Steyer’s face has flashed on Facebook feeds and half-time breaks all over California as he fuels his bid for governor.
Campaign finance reports released Thursday put a nearly $106 million price tag on that visibility. The funds, almost all of which came from the billionaire’s own pockets, dwarfed fundraising hauls of the other seven major candidates in the race during the period from Jan. 1 through April 18. The bulk of the spending went into TV ad buys across the state.
In all, Steyer has now spent nearly $133 million on his campaign since he launched his bid in November.
Steyer’s spending hasn’t translated into a clear-cut lead over other Democrats for the environmental activist. Instead, polls over the last week show Steyer duking it out in the low to mid-teens with former state attorney general Xavier Becerra, often within the margin of error of former Rep. Katie Porter. And surveys have consistently shown two Republicans — conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — slightly ahead of all the Democrats.
Those other candidates are running comparatively leaner operations. Becerra spent about $4.2 million during the period, or about 4% of Steyer’s total. Bianco out-polled Steyer despite spending just 2% as much as the former hedge fund manager.
Becerra ended the period with around $507,000 cash on hand, the second lowest of any candidate in the race.
Former San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was the race’s second-highest fundraiser, bringing in $13.5 million since he entered the race in late January. Backed by Silicon Valley titans like Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Mahan has also gotten a major boost through a separate independent committee that brought in an additional $22.7 million.
A California Democratic Party poll released this week showed Mahan was the top pick of 5% of likely voters.
Porter, whose campaign refuses corporate donations, took in $2.8 million. In a news release, the campaign said it surpassed 100,000 individual donors since she entered the race last year.
Former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s fundraising for governor hit an abrupt wall earlier this month, when he suspended his campaign after facing accusations of sexual assault and misconduct that he’s denied.
Swalwell spent $40,000 of his campaign funds on a criminal defense attorney, Sara Azari, whom he hired to represent him in the wake of the accusations. He ended the period with $4 million cash on hand.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spent more than $3 million, more than three times the amount he raised in the period. He’s struggled to emerge from the low single digits in polls.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond struggled to fundraise, bringing in around $62,000 to his campaign coffers.
