Tech interests have spent tens of millions of dollars this year on state legislative races alone. Industry advocates say they want to protect innovation from overregulation.

Billionaires, Big Oil and other interests spent big to influence the California governor’s race. Here are five key takeaways: Outside money shatters records. Mahan fizzles out. Steyer personal spending breaks records. Swalwell donors flock to Becerra. Republican Steve Hilton has the most donors.

Billionaire Tom Steyer is paying influencers to boost his $200 million California governor campaign. Some didn’t disclose it. A state law offers little accountability.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan – still polling in single digits – has approximately $8.9 million on hand to spend in the gubernatorial primary campaign's home stretch, more than double any other candidate.

Reports filed with the California Secretary of State show just 21 individuals contributed more than $1.6 million to Matt Mahan for Governor 2026 in the first two days of his campaign.

The likelihood that four of every five eligible voters won’t vote for Santa Clara County assessor candidates Neysa Fligor or Rishi Kumar heightens the anxiety and uncertainty of the two campaigns about today’s runoff vote.

Most of the $95 million raised both for and against today’s ballot measure came from fewer than 20 total contributors.

As the Nov. 4 election day approaches, most of the money for and against the plan to redraw California congressional districts was spent not by the campaign organizations, but by nonprofits, political parties and a billionaire.

For Gabby Chavez-Lopez to make up the initial 2,036-vote ballot deficit, she would have needed to get nearly 85% of the estimated 3,000 uncounted District 3 ballots.

In contrast to the nearly $1.2 million spent by and for the top three candidates in the initial four-month campaign for the coveted downtown council seat, spending for the campaigns of Gabby Chavez-Lopez and Anthony Tordillos has totalled just over $70,000 since the April 8 vote.

Gabby Chavez-Lopez led Anthony Tordillos by 706 votes in the special election, but won just 30% of the overall vote.

In the April 10 5pm update, the county Registrar of Voters reported Gabby Chavez-Lopez had widened her lead as vote-counting neared its final total in race dominated the PAC spending.

PACs allow Big Labor, Big Oil, developers and a billionaire to bypass city contribution limits.

A CalMatters analysis shows that California’s campaign finance watchdog has sometimes taken years to resolve cases, sometimes after politicians have won election or left office.

These new numbers continue the trends set by Sam Liccardo in the first quarter, and are sharp indicators of the uphill battle that Evan Low faces in his bid for the prized Silicon Valley congressional seat.

Independent political action committees were big spenders for the 2022 mayoral candidates.