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Special interest groups have injected more than $2 million into the competitive race to succeed U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, with more than half of the largess flowing to Portola Valley resident and Marine Corps veteran Peter Dixon.
Dixon, a former CEO of a cybersecurity company, is one of four candidates who have benefitted from independent-expenditure committees, commonly known as “super PACs.” These groups are not allowed to coordinate with the candidates’ campaigns, though they can pay for mailers, polls and other services that support their candidates of choice.
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and state Assembly member Evan Low have also drawn support from independent-expenditure committees. The three candidates have collectively received about $1 million from such groups, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Dixon, meanwhile, has benefited from $1.3 million in independent expenditures from a group called Next Generation Veterans, which formed earlier this year specifically for the purpose of supporting his campaign, according to a disclosure that the group filed on Feb. 28. Its disclosures show that it has been spending big on direct mailers, polling and consulting to support Dixon’s campaign.
Other candidates in the race are also benefiting from these contributions, though to a far lesser extent.
The independent-expenditure group Golden State Leadership Fund is supporting the campaign of Assembly member Evan Low with $399,000 in expenditures. Founded in 2019, the group aims to “support diversity and encourage voting among the historically under-represented communities,” according to its website.
The group supported Low’s campaign with polling services production of digital videos, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Low also received $50,045 in contributions from the group Equality California Votes.
The San Francisco-based group Neighbors for Results, which formed earlier this year, is supporting former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo with $315,777, money that has been used for digital advertisements and mailers. The group lists as its treasurer Matthew Alvarez, a partner at Sutton Law Firm.
Meanwhile, an independent-expenditure group called Part of the Solution PAC has spent $247,785 to support Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian with production of digital ads, website support and polling services. The group was founded earlier this year by Jay Gellert, former CEO of Health Net.
These four candidates are part of a crowded field that also includes Palo Alto council members Julie Lythcott-Haims and Greg Tanaka, former Menlo Park Mayor Peter Ohtaki, climate investor Joby Bernstein, attorney and former Google employee Ahmed Mostafa and former Saratoga council member Rishi Kumar.
In addition to getting support from the independent groups, the candidates have been busy raising cash through their official campaigns.
Dixon and Liccardo have the biggest campaign chests, according to campaign filings. Dixon reported $2.7 million in total receipts, which includes $1.4 million loan that he made to his own campaign.
Dixon has also received $5,000 from With Honors, a political action committee, $6,600 from Matthew McKnight, general manager at Gingko Bioworks; another $6,600 from Max Hodak, executive at Science Corporation; and $3,300 from Palo Alto architect Daniel Garber, former chair of the city’s Planning and Transportation Commission.
Juan AlbertoYepez, an investor with Forgepoint Capital, also contributed $6,600 to Dixon’s campaign, as did Peter Wendell of the firm Sierra Ventures and Tiffany Tsai, a researcher at Rand Corporation.
Liccardo reported contributions totaling $2.2 million by Feb. 14. His major donors include Matthew Dinapoli, CEO of Dinapoli Capital Group, Dana Weintraub, CEO of Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, Sunnyvale resident Richard Parenteau, and John Danner, founder of Project Read. They are among the donors who contributed the maximum amount of $6,600 to the Liccardo campaign, with $3,300 designated for the primary election and $3,300 for the general election.
Assembly member Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian also raked in the cash, with Low’s campaign reporting $1.3 million in contributions and Simitian’s reporting $932,608. Low received $3,300 contributions from more than 200 donors, including attorney Christopher Schumb; Regina Yin, owner of a McDonald’s restaurant and investor Anthony Ling. John Park, owner of Park West Casinos, contributed $6,600 to Low, as did David Duong, chief executive officer of Vietnamese American Business Association.
Simitian’s list of reported contributions includes $6,600 contributions from Gellert; Peter Pau, founder of San Hill Property Company; Elizabeth Raffin, director of Ishiyama Corporation; major Democratic donors George and Judy Marcus; John Chambers, Saratoga resident Dave House, Redwood City resident Nancy Geschke and Menlo Park resident Michelle Box, among others.
Palo Alto council member Julie Lythcott-Haims reported $595,780 in contributions, including $220,884 that her campaign has raised since the beginning of this year. Reid Hoffman and Allen Blue, co-founders of LinkedIn, each $6,600 to her campaign. So had Stanford University professor Fred Heath; San Francisco resident Smita Singh; and Tim Westergren, co-founder of Cr8tr Inc. and former CEO of Pandora.
None of the other candidates in the race have raised more than $300,000 for their bid to succeed Eshoo. Kumar reported raising $289,503, while Ahmed Mostafa received $201,773.
Bernstein reported $140,837 in contributions, while Ohtaki and Tanaka reported $54,170 and $15,080, respectively.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that independent expenditure committees are not allowed to coordinate with candidates’ campaigns.
