Mayor Karen Bass outraises Councilmember Nithya Raman in Nov. 3 runoff
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has outraised challenger Nithya Raman in fundraising for the Nov. 3 runoff election, the latest campaign finance reports show, pulling in about $3.4 million to Raman’s $3 million.
Bass collected $827,000 in contributions and taxpayer matching funds during the one-month reporting period that ended Oct. 17. Councilmember Raman reported bringing in $485,000, the filings showed.
Although Bass brought in more money, Raman had a larger amount socked away for the final days of the campaign, according to the filings submitted this week. She had nearly $1.4 million on hand, while Bass reported about half of that.
With election day less than two weeks away, the money collected by the two candidates has been eclipsed by the expensive outside campaigns being waged by powerful interests — labor unions, business organizations, wealthy business owners and individual companies.
Bass and Raman cannot raise more than $1,800 per donor. Independent expenditure committees, on the other hand, have no limits on the size of the donations they collect, as long as they do not coordinate with the campaigns of their favored candidates.
The Western States Regional Council of Carpenters had raised more than $10 million as of Thursday for its Estamos Con Nithya committee, whose ads have been promoting Raman and ripping into Bass. Of that total, $6 million has come from Aaron Sosnick, a hedge fund manager with a Reno address, who has been pushing for an expansion of the city’s bike lane network.
Also promoting Raman is the transportation advocacy group Streets for All, which has produced dozens of digital ads savaging Bass over her record on homelessness, the Palisades fire and other issues. That group has spent $1.1 million, with much of its money coming from Sosnick and two real estate developers, according to Ethics Commission figures.
On the Bass side of the ledger, a committee sponsored by the Los Angeles Police Protective League has spent nearly $4.8 million on advertising assailing Raman and her record, including her opposition to a law barring homeless encampments near schools. That committee has received donations from the police union and other contributors.
Bass also has been receiving outside help from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the region’s building trade unions, among others.
In the race to replace City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy raised about $292,000 in donations and matching funds during the latest reporting period, bringing her total in the runoff to just above $1 million. Her opponent, Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney, brought in nearly $150,000 in donations and public funding over that same one-month span, bringing his runoff campaign to nearly $670,000.
Roy had more money available for the campaign’s final stretch, reporting about $366,000, compared with $213,000 for McKinney.
Both of the city attorney candidates are receiving a boost from outside committees.
By Thursday night, a collection of labor unions and nonprofit advocacy groups had spent a combined $1.7 million on efforts to elect Roy, producing ads and mailers that portray McKinney, a lifelong Democrat, as the candidate backed by allies of President Trump.
Roy’s backers include the Carpenters Council, hotel employee union Unite Here Local 11 and the Smart Justice California Action Fund, which backed prosecutor George Gascón during his race for L.A. County district attorney in 2020.
McKinney, in turn, was bolstered by nearly $2 million in outside spending by an array of businesses and business leaders, including real estate developer Rick Caruso, investor Ron Burkle and Douglas Emmett, which owns and leases offices and other properties.
In a statement, McKinney said his numbers showed that voters are concerned about Roy and her “George Gascón-like policies.” Roy touted her fundraising total and accused McKinney of relying on “corporate, MAGA money.”
In the race to replace City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield in the west San Fernando Valley, businessman Tim Gaspar reported bringing in nearly $584,000 during the runoff campaign, compared with about $287,000 for legislative aide Barri Worth Girvan.
Gaspar had about $185,000 available for the remainder of the campaign, compared with about $72,000 for Worth Girvan. In a statement, Worth Girvan said her campaign is showing that “while money can buy attention, only trust earns votes.”
“We’ve been outspent before and still ended in a virtual tie,” she said, referring to her second-place finish in the June 2 primary.
Asked about the latest numbers, a Gaspar staffer referred The Times to remarks the candidate made previously, saying the funding from his supporters is “a show of trust and a call for change.”
In the race to replace City Councilmember Curren Price in South L.A., former legislative aide Jose Ugarte and community organizer Estuardo Mazariegos were evenly matched, with both raising about $350,000 for the runoff in contributions and matching funds, the latest reports showed. Mazariegos had nearly $115,000 cash on hand, compared with Ugarte’s $43,000.
An array of donors have put more than $1 million into outside groups backing Ugarte, a former Price aide. They include Airbnb, Uber, the California Apartment Assn. and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, which represents workers at the Department of Water and Power.
Several groups are also running independent expenditure campaigns for Mazariegos, spending more than $250,000 so far. They include United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing teachers in the L.A Unified School District, and the political arm of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, an advocacy group that employs Mazariegos.
