Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

East Bay Congressman who represents San Ramon is first to quit presidential race

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Rep. Eric Swalwell. Photo from his congressional website.

By Allen Payton

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D, CA-15) was the first candidate to drop out of the race for president, when he made an announcement during a press conference at the Swalwell for American headquarters in his hometown of Dublin, on Monday. He was one of over 20 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination.

Swalwell has represented San Ramon in Contra Costa County, as well as the Tri Valley and other portions of Alameda County, since he was first elected, after beating 20-term incumbent and fellow Democrat Pete Stark in the 2012 primary election.

A member of the House Intelligence Committee, Swalwell had been calling for President Trump’s impeachment for the past year, and his main presidential campaign issue was an assault weapons ban.

In a statement on his presidential campaign website, Swalwell wrote,

I ran for President to win and make a difference in our great country — a difference on issues of the future such as finding cures for our deadliest and most debilitating diseases, taking on the student loan debt crisis, and ending gun violence. I promised my family, constituents, and supporters that I would always be honest about our chances. After the first Democratic presidential debate, our polling and fundraising numbers weren’t what we had hoped for, and I no longer see a path forward to the nomination. My presidential campaign ends today, but this also is the start of a new passage for the issues on which our campaign ran.

I entered this race determined to elevate the issue of gun violence, and at the debate, three top-tier candidates embraced my idea to ban and buy back every single assault weapon in America. Putting this idea and this larger issue of gun violence front and center in the Democratic policy discussion is an accomplishment, dedicated to the students, moms, and other activists who tirelessly demand action to save American lives.

I thank my supporters and friends, my staff, and my family for making this journey possible. I’ll never forget the people I met and lessons I learned while travelling around our great nation – especially in the communities most affected by gun violence. Too many communities feel this pain. But in every community’s grief, I see people who love one another and have inside themselves the grit to get things done to end gun violence once and for all.

I will take those lessons back to Congress, serving my friends and neighbors in California’s 15th District while using my seats on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees to make our nation safer and uphold the rule of law for all Americans.

Thank you,

Eric

The 38-year-old Swalwell will instead seek a fifth term in Congress. Rumor has it that former State Assemblywoman Catharine Baker might run for the Republican nomination in the same district to face Swalwell, next year.

Law firm says California Secretary of State systemically violates National Voter Registration Act

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Contra Costa attorney leading effort

The San Francisco-based Dhillon Law Group sent a letter to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, demanding that he correct, within 90 days, his office’s systemic failure to verify the eligibility of voters registered at the Department of Motor Vehicles, as required by the National Voter Registration Act.

The letter sent on behalf of three California voters demands that the Secretary of State’s office make the following corrections:

  • Obtain from the DMV documentation regarding an individual’s citizenship, so that the Secretary of State may fulfill the NVRA requirement to ensure eligibility prior to placing a registrant on the voter rolls;
  • Begin to review all voter registrations and compare the voter registration with databases maintained by the state of California to ensure that all registrants are eligible to vote before placing them on the California voter rolls;
  • Review all current California registered voters to determine eligibility, and send notices to all non-citizens who happen to be on the voter rolls; and
  • Update the California NVRA Manual to specifically enumerate the responsibilities of the registrar of voters in verifying voting eligibility, by consulting state and county databases to determine eligibility.

“The integrity of our voter rolls is critical to fair and honest elections,” said lead attorney from the Dhillon Law Group, Mark Meuser. “With this anticipated litigation, we seek to maintain the voter rolls by ensuring that only those who are eligible to vote are on the voter rolls, from the start.”

Meuser lives in Contra Costa County and ran against Padilla in last year’s election.

Judicial Watch and the Election Integrity Project of California won a settlement against the Secretary of State and Los Angeles County in 2018 that forced the removal of 1.5 million inactive voters from the voter rolls in compliance of the NVRA.

“California is the home of Silicon Valley and big data, the brain trust of global innovation, yet the California DMV insists on using stone-age strategies to manage its critical data on citizenship and voting rights,” said Dhillon Law Group managing partner, Harmeet K. Dhillon. “The DMV possesses information that can protect non-citizens from illegal registration on the voter rolls, yet this information is not properly being distributed to or used by the Secretary of State to perform his legally mandated duties. Californians deserve to know why the DMV and the Secretary of State are unwilling, or unable, to effectively share data and ensure the integrity of our voter rolls.”

The letter and more information may be found at CAVotingRights.com

 

Supervisors withdraw Blackhawk police tax measure set for August 27

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Possible November ballot measure instead

By Daniel Borsuk

At a specially called Tuesday meeting, on May 28, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors took the unusual action of withdrawing a special tax, measure approved a week earlier, that would have permitted residents of the Blackhawk Homeowners Association to vote on whether to increase a parcel tax to keep police services intact.

The special election scrubbed by supervisors on a 3-0 vote, was originally to be held August 27 and would have generated sufficient parcel tax revenue from Blackhawk homeowners to maintain police services that are provided by the Contra Costa County Sheriff at current levels, three deputies and one lieutenant.

At the request of District 3 Supervisor Diane Burgis of Brentwood, whose district includes the residential area consisting of 2,027 exclusive homes near Danville, the supervisor said after the May 21 action she had met with representatives of the Blackhawk Country Club, which opposes being included in any type of parcel tax proposal for police services. Burgis said she will present at an upcoming meeting a Blackhawk police services parcel tax proposal that would be “fair and agreeable.”

“We’ve had challenges concerning the funding for the police district,” Burgis admitted.

In the May 21 action, the special taxes levied in the zone for police protection would have been increased in fiscal year 2020-2021 to $380 per parcel for residential properties, including single, small multiple and large multiple, $3,040 per parcel for commercial/industrial/institutional properties and $13,300 per parcel for commercial/theater properties. The ordinance also would have taxed parcels owned by the Blackhawk County Club, which are currently exempt from the Zone A police protection special tax.

While admitting the association has been losing revenues to support the police services at current levels, Blackhawk Homeowners Association President Ron Banducci, who is also chairman of the Blackhawk Police Advisory Committee, had informed supervisors at the May 21 meeting that without the infusion of increased revenues from homeowners residents would lose one deputy from its police department.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Banducci warned supervisors to leave intact their May 21 decision to allow a vote on the August 27 parcel tax measure that would also, for the first time, include the Blackhawk Country Club to be assessed parcel taxes.

He cautioned supervisors Federal Glover of Pittsburg and Board Chair John Gioia of Richmond about any “backroom deal by Supervisor Burgis and the Blackhawk Country Club for $40,000 for 10 years” to allegedly be excluded from a police district tax district.

Blackhawk Homeowners Association member, Rick Marse, said the fact that Burgis and the country club have been meeting makes any kind of deal “completely irregular.”

Another Blackhawk resident Henry Schutzel thought that the meeting was invalid because it violates the public open meeting law. “I believe this meeting is a violation of the Brown Act,” he claimed.

Even then, without much comment from Supervisors Glover or Gioia on the issue at hand, Burgis’s request was unanimously approved.

County Republicans decry Bauer-Kahan, Assembly Democrats for vote against resolution condemning professor who called for murdering police

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Frazier, Grayson, Wicks vote against resolution, as well

Sacramento, Calif. — While presiding over last Friday’s session of the California State Assembly, Assemblywoman and Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (AD-16), who represents parts of the San Ramon Valley, voted in opposition to House Resolution 22 which would have condemned the comments of a University of California, Davis professor who advocated for the murdering of police officers.

Bauer-Kahan along with 53 of her Democratic colleagues defeated HR22, effectually condoning specific statements such as “it’s easier to shoot cops when their backs are turned,” and “people think cops need to be reformed. They need to be killed.”

Assemblymen Jim Frazier D-Discovery Bay (AD-11), Tim Grayson D-Concord (AD-14) and Buffy Wicks D-Oakland (AD-15) who each represent other parts of Contra Costa County, also voted against the resolution condemning the professor’s statement.

“On the eve of Memorial Day weekend, it is especially disgusting that Assemblywoman Bauer-Kahan would lead the Assembly to effectively condone rhetoric advocating for the murder of police officers,” said Contra Costa Republican Party Chairman, Matt Shupe. “The men and women who serve us as police officers routinely put themselves in harm’s way for our safety and don’t deserve this type of brazen disrespect from our legislative leaders.”

Rep. DeSaulnier to host two “Conversation on Race” Town Halls with Special Guests Rep’s. Bass and Lee

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Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) will host a pair of town halls to engage in a “Conversation on Race” on Tuesday, April 23rd and Saturday, April 27th. These town halls are the latest in a series of discussions on race hosted by Congressman DeSaulnier and are intended to facilitate more understanding, healing, and progress to help us move forward as a nation.

“A Conversation on Race” Town Halls
Tuesday, April 23rd

Special Guest: Congresswoman Karen Bass (CA-37), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and first African American woman Speaker of the California Assembly

6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Diablo Valley College Cafeteria

321 Golf Club Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

RSVP: https://desaulnier.house.gov/town-hall-rsvp

Saturday, April 27th

Hosted With: Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13)

12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Black Repertory Group Theater

3201 Adeline Street, Berkeley, CA 94703

RSVP: https://desaulnier.house.gov/town-hall-rsvp

These events are open to the public, press, and photographers.

Please RSVP at https://desaulnier.house.gov/town-hall-rsvp or by calling 925-933-2660. To request ADA accommodations or for more information, please contact Congressman DeSaulnier’s Walnut Creek or Richmond office.

Congressman DeSaulnier launched his first town hall of this series on February 3, 2018 and information on it can be found here.

Glazer calls on state political watchdog agency to levy maximum fine on BART

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State Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) today sent a letter to the Fair Political Practices Commission requesting the FPPC to levy the maximum possible fine against the Bay Area Rapid Transit district for its illegal use of public funds to campaign for Measure RR on the November 2016 ballot.

“The modest administrative penalty that the FPPC is considering would represent less than a slap on the wrist for BART after the district violated state law by using public funds to campaign for its bond measure,” Glazer said.

“In fact, this penalty is barely a tap on the wrist to BART. It would send a message to government officials in every agency in the state that they are free to break the law and use the public’s funds to wage political campaigns to sway public opinion.”

The commission, which meets Thursday in Sacramento, is considering a $7,500 penalty to punish BART for failing to properly disclose its illegal spending, which financed a video featuring Warriors star Draymond Green and text messages sent to thousands of Bay Area residents.

But the commission’s focus on the lack of disclosure ignores the far more serious offense that occurred when BART spent the money in violation of state law banning public agencies from engaging in political campaigns at public expense.

Glazer said that even if the FPPC believes its jurisdiction over illegal spending is limited, the commission could still levy a larger fine.

The $7,500 proposed penalty was based in part on the commission staff’s conclusion that BART’s text message campaign cost little because the list of residents who received the text was already in BART’s files.

But that list was compiled by BART as part of a years-long effort to build a public relations machine to further its interests. The FPPC should base its fine on the cost of that effort – not the cost of writing a mass text message and hitting the “send” button.

Even using its more limited valuation of the public funds BART spent illegally, the FPPC’s own staff acknowledged that the commission could levy a penalty of $33,375. But the commission’s proposed decision calls for a penalty of only a fraction of that amount.

“The people of California depend on the FPPC to be our watchdog over the practices of our politicians,” Glazer said. “But this proposed decision is so toothless that no government official or agency will ever again fear the consequences of spending the public’s money on a political campaign.”

County Elections office updates results, still 36,000 ballots to be counted

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By Paul Burgarino, Community Education and Engagement Specialist, Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Department

Results from the November 6, 2018 General Election have been updated on the Contra Costa Elections website as of Friday, Nov. 16 at 2:07 P.M. You can view them here.

A couple of points of interest: voter turnout is now at 62.2 percent for this election. Also, the Contra Costa Elections Division has processed nearly 2.3 million ballot cards to this point.

The Elections Division estimates that there are about 10,000 Vote-By-Mail ballots left to process, along with 25,000 Provisionals and 1,000 Conditional Voter Registrations.

Our next scheduled results update is at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, November 21st.

County Elections Department provides update, still counting 108,000 remaining ballots

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By Paul Burgarino, Community Education and Engagement Specialist, Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Department

Results from the November 6th General Election have been updated on the Contra Costa Elections website, as of Friday, Nov. 9th at 5:00 p.m. You can view the Update 1 here. The Contra Costa Elections Division has processed over 1.7 million ballot cards to this point.

Please note that the updated results are still unofficial.

The Elections Division estimates that there are about 82,000 Vote-By-Mail envelopes remaining to be counted, as well as 25,000 Provisionals and 1,000 Conditional Voter Registrations.

Our next scheduled update is at 5:00 pm on Friday, November 16th.

The Elections Department has 28 days to certify the election results. So, close races may not be decided until the beginning of December.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

Payton Perspective: Re-elect Joel Keller to BART Board

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Joel Keller at Antioch BART Station opening 5-25-18. Photo by Allen Payton

Usually, I don’t recommend elected officials serving in the same office for 24 years, such as Joel Keller, who was elected to the BART Board on the same night in November 1994 that I was elected to the Antioch City Council. That’s because elected representatives tend to become complacent or arrogant in office and stop listening to their constituents, and end up doing the bidding of the powerful, special interests who support them and contribute to their re-election campaigns.

However, Joel is different. Having served on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and three of the four transportation boards in East County, including as Chairman of the Bypass Authority in 1998 when we purchased the right-of-way for the State Route 4 extension (aka The Bypass) from Lone Tree Way to Balfour Road, I’ve learned the difficult lesson that infrastructure projects can take a long time. Too much time for most all of our liking. But, that’s another issue. My point is, it’s taken that time for Joel to get BART extended to Antioch.

Although it’s not full or “real” BART, as we Antioch residents would have preferred, the bottom line is Joel was able to wade through the funding limitations from BART and the federal government, as well as the opposition by other regions in the BART District and directors who represent those regions and make his promise and commitment a reality. Antioch has a BART station. During his next four years, if re-elected, I believe Joel will be able to help deliver further extensions in East County, first to Laurel Road – which will benefit Antioch’s economic development area for job creation and serve the residents of Oakley – then to Brentwood near Sand Creek Road.

Joel has done what he said he would do, and he listens to his constituents. Most recently, Joel heard the complaints about safety on the BART system. In order to ensure the rest of the board members heard the complaints from the people in his district who can’t attend their normal day time meetings in Oakland, had the board hold a night time meeting in Pittsburg. Then, due to the overwhelming response by riders to the opening of the Antioch BART Station, Joel heard the outcry for more parking spaces, and he delivered by getting the other BART Board Members to join him in voting to fund 800 more spaces.

I believe Joel has earned one more term on the BART Board, which most likely will be his last, and recommend we re-elect him.

Clayton candidate for Secretary of State, Mark Meuser has best grassroots campaign in California

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By Ryan Hughes (@RyanHughesCA), DollarDollarBill.com (republished with permission)
Oct. 24, 2018

In American political campaigns, cash rules everything. Candidates and elected officials spend countless hours raising money to pay for their commercials, mailers, and door hangers. But candidates differ in how they raise enough money to be competitive.

Dollar Dollar Bill wanted to find out who 2018’s biggest—and smallest—grassroots fundraisers were. Our full methodology is explained below, but the short version is this: we calculated the percentage of each candidate’s donors who gave $200 or less, but excluded any candidate who had not raised at least $100,000.

So whose campaign is raising the most grassroots money in 2018?

Candidate District Total Raised Grassroots ($) Grassroots (%)
Mark Meuser (R) SOS $ 261,187.46 $ 128,800.74 49.31%
Jovanka Beckles (D) AD15 $ 350,499.34 $ 99,997.20 28.53%
William Ostrander (D) AD35 $ 109,049.90 $ 28,446.06 26.09%
Jacalyn Smith (D) AD06 $ 135,137.29 $ 31,991.51 23.67%
Joy Silver (D) SD28 $ 509,409.42 $ 71,888.03 14.11%
Steven Bailey (R) AG $ 501,228.98 $ 56,053.61 11.18%
Buffy Wicks (D) AD15 $ 1,134,729.48 $ 90,251.91 7.95%
John Cox (R) CAGOV $ 12,145,288.73 $ 878,300.09 7.23%
Cottie Petrie-Norris (D) AD74 $ 435,364.07 $ 31,213.18 7.17%
Alexandria Coronado (R) AD65 $ 199,364.08 $ 13,874.00 6.96%

At the top of the list is Mark Meuser, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State. He attributed his grassroots fundraising success to his campaign’s considerable travels throughout the state to speak to political and civic groups—and he has numbers: 825 events, 92,500 miles driven, a 58-county bike tour over 46 days, and air travel on top of all that. “We’ve been very good at handing out campaign contribution envelopes right there when I’m speaking,” said Meuser. During our interview, Meuser was southbound on I-5 to headline an event that night for a Republican congressional candidate.

Joy Silver, the Democratic candidate for Senate District 28, attributed her success in grassroots fundraising to her having been an organizer before she began running for office. “I am a grassroots candidate because I was working as a grassroots organizer,” explained Silver. Following the 2018 election, she helped organize a group to oppose Trump Administration policies. “They wanted me to run, so I became the voice of those people.”

Asked how much time she spends fundraising, Silver paused and joked, “I’m trying to think of what else I do.”
On the other end of the spectrum are candidates who raised almost no money from grassroots sources. California has ten candidates who raised less than one tenth of one percent of their campaign funds from grassroots donors:

Candidate District Total Raised Grassroots ($) Grassroots (%)
Miguel Santiago (D) AD53 $ 1,238,791.76 $ 1,125.00 0.09%
Wendy Carrillo (D) AD51 $ 448,769.86 $ 375.50 0.08%
Blanca Rubio (D) AD48 $ 1,074,290.57 $ 880.50 0.08%
Lorena Gonzalez (D) AD80 $ 1,724,427.89 $ 1,403.00 0.08%
Ken Cooley (D) AD08 $ 625,057.51 $ 450.00 0.07%
Ian Calderon (D) AD57 $ 1,145,958.17 $ 736.00 0.06%
Jim Cooper (D) AD09 $ 2,002,785.01 $ 1,210.00 0.06%
Joel Anderson (R) BOE04 $ 449,001.08 $ 235.00 0.05%
Marie Waldron (R) AD75 $ 544,437.22 $ 189.97 0.03%
Mike Gipson (D) AD64 $ 981,334.48 $ 102.20 0.01%

All of these candidates are incumbent members of the Legislature, and only one of them is seeking higher office: Joel Anderson for Board of Equalization.

At the very bottom of grassroots fundraising this cycle is Mike Gipson, a Democratic Assemblymember from South Los Angeles, who raised 0.01% of his campaign contributions from grassroots sources. Of the nearly $1 million he raised, only $102.20 came from grassroots sources.

How much have your local candidates raised in grassroots contributions? All candidates for the 2018 General Election who raised at least $100,000:

Candidate District Total Raised Grassroots ($) Grassroots (%)
Mark Meuser (R) SOS $ 261,187.46 $ 128,800.74 49.31%
Jovanka Beckles (D) AD15 $ 350,499.34 $ 99,997.20 28.53%
William Ostrander (D) AD35 $ 109,049.90 $ 28,446.06 26.09%
Jacalyn Smith (D) AD06 $ 135,137.29 $ 31,991.51 23.67%
Joy Silver (D) SD28 $ 509,409.42 $ 71,888.03 14.11%
Steven Bailey (R) AG $ 501,228.98 $ 56,053.61 11.18%
Buffy Wicks (D) AD15 $ 1,134,729.48 $ 90,251.91 7.95%
John Cox (R) CAGOV $ 12,145,288.73 $ 878,300.09 7.23%
Cottie Petrie-Norris (D) AD74 $ 435,364.07 $ 31,213.18 7.17%
Alexandria Coronado (R) AD65 $ 199,364.08 $ 13,874.00 6.96%
Mike Mc Guire (D) SD02 $ 1,541,581.86 $ 102,039.18 6.62%
Sunday Gover (D) AD77 $ 471,297.26 $ 30,756.22 6.53%
Tasha Boerner Horvath (D) AD76 $ 412,747.96 $ 24,435.96 5.92%
Tepring Michelle Piquado (D) AD54 $ 168,735.08 $ 9,959.58 5.90%
Alan Geraci (D) AD75 $ 142,171.37 $ 7,736.44 5.44%
Gavin Newsom (D) CAGOV $ 41,931,831.24 $ 2,160,446.32 5.15%
Janet Nguyen (R) SD34 $ 1,947,105.29 $ 96,779.01 4.97%
Mark Stone (D) AD29 $ 468,134.57 $ 20,875.94 4.46%
Konstantinos Roditis (R) CON $ 117,214.99 $ 5,114.99 4.36%
Michael Eng (D) SD22 $ 2,449,071.73 $ 101,798.46 4.16%
Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D) AD16 $ 958,349.83 $ 39,094.37 4.08%
Xavier Becerra (D) AG $ 6,798,507.78 $ 266,470.77 3.92%
Jesse Gabriel (D) AD45 $ 947,466.05 $ 36,115.36 3.81%
Frank Scotto (R) AD66 $ 725,034.58 $ 27,107.00 3.74%
Marshall Tuck (D) SPI $ 4,276,700.13 $ 126,421.19 2.96%
Brian Jones (R) SD38 $ 926,033.24 $ 24,481.00 2.64%
Richard Pan (D) SD06 $ 1,331,028.76 $ 33,510.67 2.52%
James Gallagher (R) AD03 $ 1,126,179.33 $ 28,326.88 2.52%
Malia Cohen (D) BOE02 $ 909,361.61 $ 22,467.00 2.47%
Kevin Kiley (R) AD06 $ 676,588.65 $ 16,004.98 2.37%
Maria Elena Durazo (D) SD24 $ 1,206,722.95 $ 28,406.00 2.35%
Fiona Ma (D) TREAS $ 3,454,286.07 $ 77,226.71 2.24%
Ash Kalra (D) AD27 $ 482,134.00 $ 10,114.00 2.10%
Robert Rivas (D) AD30 $ 702,549.27 $ 14,390.00 2.05%
Josh Lowenthal (D) AD72 $ 1,340,146.42 $ 26,857.17 2.00%
Catharine Baker (R) AD16 $ 2,043,507.26 $ 38,367.27 1.88%
Al Muratsuchi (D) AD66 $ 1,354,823.00 $ 25,039.53 1.85%
Melissa Hurtado (D) SD14 $ 653,284.33 $ 11,939.18 1.83%
S. Monique Limon (D) AD37 $ 876,953.00 $ 15,135.49 1.73%
Andreas Borgeas (R) SD08 $ 894,384.98 $ 15,412.19 1.72%
Edwin Chau (D) AD49 $ 596,739.75 $ 9,950.00 1.67%
Bob Archuleta (D) SD32 $ 518,724.83 $ 8,602.00 1.66%
Kevin Mullin (D) AD22 $ 844,571.10 $ 13,634.00 1.61%
Susan Rubio (D) SD22 $ 837,248.66 $ 13,356.00 1.60%
Betty Yee (D) CON $ 2,194,307.05 $ 34,581.43 1.58%
Melissa Melendez (R) AD67 $ 401,288.04 $ 6,075.00 1.51%
Jordan Cunningham (R) AD35 $ 1,020,896.61 $ 15,126.66 1.48%
Laura Friedman (D) AD43 $ 748,804.12 $ 11,013.08 1.47%
Bob Wieckowski (D) SD10 $ 946,622.22 $ 13,881.14 1.47%
Shannon Grove (R) SD16 $ 1,512,205.91 $ 21,661.76 1.43%
Kansen Chu (D) AD25 $ 449,819.16 $ 6,436.31 1.43%
Christy Smith (D) AD38 $ 1,275,279.76 $ 18,227.72 1.43%
James Wood (D) AD02 $ 1,103,126.85 $ 15,259.91 1.38%
Devon Mathis (R) AD26 $ 441,166.09 $ 6,049.92 1.37%
Connie Leyva (D) SD20 $ 1,301,747.12 $ 17,835.00 1.37%
Tyler Diep (R) AD72 $ 907,191.79 $ 12,187.00 1.34%
Henry Nickel (R) AD40 $ 282,813.12 $ 3,787.68 1.34%
Bill Quirk (D) AD20 $ 643,019.42 $ 8,534.00 1.33%
Steven Choi (R) AD68 $ 245,853.00 $ 3,203.00 1.30%
Ben Allen (D) SD26 $ 1,690,309.04 $ 21,782.00 1.29%
Thomas Umberg (D) SD34 $ 1,085,928.14 $ 13,193.17 1.21%
David Chiu (D) AD17 $ 1,395,785.39 $ 16,769.01 1.20%
Patrick O’Donnell (D) AD70 $ 1,030,713.79 $ 12,294.00 1.19%
Susan Eggman (D) AD13 $ 1,023,635.71 $ 12,056.19 1.18%
Evan Low (D) AD28 $ 2,040,144.24 $ 24,026.25 1.18%
Edward Hernandez (D) LG $ 3,672,188.78 $ 42,041.00 1.14%
Todd Gloria (D) AD78 $ 866,625.10 $ 9,730.00 1.12%
Sharon Quirk-Silva (D) AD65 $ 1,676,466.92 $ 18,797.97 1.12%
Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D) AD04 $ 788,054.20 $ 8,676.69 1.10%
Vincent Fong (R) AD34 $ 1,071,066.11 $ 11,237.98 1.05%
Marc Berman (D) AD24 $ 715,198.24 $ 7,456.20 1.04%
Sydney Kamlager (D) AD54 $ 571,669.75 $ 5,880.00 1.03%
Joaquin Arambula (D) AD31 $ 898,302.70 $ 8,899.31 0.99%
Justin Mendes (R) AD32 $ 653,832.91 $ 6,085.00 0.93%
Jacqui Irwin (D) AD44 $ 1,233,253.50 $ 11,356.00 0.92%
Cristina Garcia (D) AD58 $ 807,374.70 $ 7,318.69 0.91%
Mohammad-Ali Mazarei (R) AD61 $ 114,356.04 $ 1,035.54 0.91%
Eloise Gomez Reyes (D) AD47 $ 681,258.32 $ 6,144.70 0.90%
Bill Essayli (R) AD60 $ 629,253.31 $ 5,626.17 0.89%
Shirley Weber (D) AD79 $ 719,040.24 $ 6,394.00 0.89%
Randy Voepel (R) AD71 $ 162,010.00 $ 1,400.00 0.86%
Jim Frazier (D) AD11 $ 1,071,153.60 $ 9,248.99 0.86%
Adrin Nazarian (D) AD46 $ 827,127.82 $ 7,127.99 0.86%
Alex Padilla (D) SOS $ 1,769,469.14 $ 14,767.13 0.83%
Tim Grayson (D) AD14 $ 1,089,670.33 $ 8,911.04 0.82%
Eleni Kounalakis (D) LG $ 6,948,261.57 $ 54,581.58 0.79%
James Ramos (D) AD40 $ 1,561,945.06 $ 11,711.32 0.75%
Andy Vidak (R) SD14 $ 1,786,180.52 $ 12,895.00 0.72%
Ted Gaines (R) BOE01 $ 840,303.33 $ 6,015.00 0.72%
Jim Nielsen (R) SD04 $ 997,447.79 $ 7,115.00 0.71%
Tony Vazquez (D) BOE03 $ 358,674.35 $ 2,501.11 0.70%
Pat Bates (R) SD36 $ 1,540,644.65 $ 10,658.45 0.69%
Dante Acosta (R) AD38 $ 914,428.76 $ 6,162.00 0.67%
Luz Rivas (D) AD39 $ 334,456.14 $ 2,108.03 0.63%
Chad Mayes (R) AD42 $ 1,213,756.31 $ 7,576.30 0.62%
Rob Bonta (D) AD18 $ 2,628,260.37 $ 15,647.88 0.60%
Brian Dahle (R) AD01 $ 1,437,744.65 $ 8,493.84 0.59%
Eduardo Garcia (D) AD56 $ 747,383.28 $ 4,298.00 0.58%
Heath Flora (R) AD12 $ 490,837.33 $ 2,772.25 0.56%
Ricardo Lara (D) IC $ 2,065,769.09 $ 11,560.35 0.56%
Sabrina Cervantes (D) AD60 $ 1,748,736.69 $ 9,754.70 0.56%
Jose Medina (D) AD61 $ 615,600.64 $ 3,386.32 0.55%
Marc Levine (D) AD10 $ 1,755,336.86 $ 9,509.85 0.54%
Jeffrey Stone (R) SD28 $ 537,258.00 $ 2,769.00 0.52%
Holly Mitchell (D) SD30 $ 1,279,003.18 $ 6,305.96 0.49%
Jim Patterson (R) AD23 $ 784,863.17 $ 3,800.00 0.48%
Robert Poythress (R) SD12 $ 1,812,471.53 $ 8,620.00 0.48%
Frank Bigelow (R) AD05 $ 1,413,518.61 $ 6,460.00 0.46%
Bill Brough (R) AD73 $ 623,975.43 $ 2,823.00 0.45%
Tony Thurmond (D) SPI $ 702,140.37 $ 3,097.22 0.44%
Anna Caballero (D) SD12 $ 2,114,695.50 $ 9,109.16 0.43%
Phillip Chen (R) AD55 $ 669,264.64 $ 2,697.24 0.40%
Kevin Mc Carty (D) AD07 $ 737,720.29 $ 2,896.98 0.39%
Jay Obernolte (R) AD33 $ 503,331.01 $ 1,962.72 0.39%
Phil Ting (D) AD19 $ 1,753,400.32 $ 6,723.66 0.38%
Matthew Harper (R) AD74 $ 264,870.98 $ 999.00 0.38%
Richard Bloom (D) AD50 $ 579,022.28 $ 2,130.00 0.37%
Thomas Lackey (R) AD36 $ 629,275.51 $ 2,225.59 0.35%
Adam Gray (D) AD21 $ 1,352,561.49 $ 4,321.34 0.32%
Brian Maienschein (R) AD77 $ 1,768,749.36 $ 4,794.00 0.27%
Steve Poizner (N) IC $ 2,051,395.50 $ 5,052.18 0.25%
Robert Hertzberg (D) SD18 $ 2,023,911.11 $ 4,933.66 0.24%
Freddie Rodriguez (D) AD52 $ 890,116.53 $ 1,668.81 0.19%
Reggie Jones-Sawyer Sr. (D) AD59 $ 486,944.48 $ 800.00 0.16%
Autumn Burke (D) AD62 $ 1,218,879.76 $ 1,726.19 0.14%
Chris Holden (D) AD41 $ 931,964.47 $ 1,295.36 0.14%
Rudy Salas Jr. (D) AD32 $ 1,390,765.38 $ 1,897.00 0.14%
Tom Daly (D) AD69 $ 1,513,510.53 $ 1,993.00 0.13%
Ben Hueso (D) SD40 $ 1,114,985.56 $ 1,350.00 0.12%
Anthony Rendon (D) AD63 $ 2,901,621.03 $ 3,230.41 0.11%
Miguel Santiago (D) AD53 $ 1,238,791.76 $ 1,125.00 0.09%
Wendy Carrillo (D) AD51 $ 448,769.86 $ 375.50 0.08%
Blanca Rubio (D) AD48 $ 1,074,290.57 $ 880.50 0.08%
Lorena Gonzalez (D) AD80 $ 1,724,427.89 $ 1,403.00 0.08%
Ken Cooley (D) AD08 $ 625,057.51 $ 450.00 0.07%
Ian Calderon (D) AD57 $ 1,145,958.17 $ 736.00 0.06%
Jim Cooper (D) AD09 $ 2,002,785.01 $ 1,210.00 0.06%
Joel Anderson (R) BOE04 $ 449,001.08 $ 235.00 0.05%
Marie Waldron (R) AD75 $ 544,437.22 $ 189.97 0.03%
Mike Gipson (D) AD64 $ 981,334.48 $ 102.20 0.01%

Methodology
All data for this analysis comes from campaign reports filed through the last Form 460 reporting date, September 22, 2018.

We summed each candidate’s contributions less than $100 (reported as a lump sum on Form 460, Schedule A, Line 2). Then we added to that total each candidate’s contributions this cycle that were $200 or less, but excluded any contributor who donated multiple times for a sum exceeding $200. That figure is “Grassroots ($)”, above.
Then we summed up the total number of contributions and the net of loans made to a campaign (loans received less loans repaid). That figure is “Total Raised”, above.

We removed any candidate who had not raised at least $100,000 as a means to control for data skewing by candidates who are not viable. We then calculated the portion of a candidate’s funds that are grassroots, i.e., from contributors giving $200 or less. We used a percentage in our rankings instead of total grassroots dollars in order to compare districts that are geographically and economically diverse.

To note, it is not possible to calculate the average contribution for California candidates from publicly available information. As noted above, all contributions less than $100 are reported as a lump sum without reporting the number of people contributing under $100. For example, if a candidate reports $1,000 worth of contributions under $100, that may have come from 11 people contributing $90.91 or 1,000 people contributing $1. Without knowing how many people actually contributed, calculating an average contribution amount is not possible.

NOTE: The publisher of the Herald is the campaign manager for Mark Meuser for Secretary of State.