The final votes from California’s March 5 primary are still being counted, but while the results of some races are still up in the air, it’s becoming clear just how much cash the candidates and independent groups spent per voter — and it’s no small change.
U.S. Senate
The race for California’s open seat in the U.S. Senate was a competitive one, and the total spending works out to nearly $90 million so far, among the four leading candidates and the political action committees (PACs). That’s $12 spent for each of the 7.2 million people who voted in the primary, which sent Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican former baseball star Steve Garvey to the November general election.
The spending in that race was overwhelmingly from the candidates themselves, who spent $69 million. Schiff’s campaign spent the most, about $40 million, and he also got the most votes. His dollar per vote total: $17.
Rep. Katie Porter’s campaign spent the second most in total, but it worked out to the most per vote when she came in third with about 15% of the votes. Her campaign spent about $21 per vote.
Garvey’s campaign came out the clear winner for most bang for each buck. His campaign spent less than $1 per vote. But his campaign was the secondary beneficiary of much of Schiff’s spending as well. The Democratic front-runner shelled out big dollars to blanket the airwaves with ads focusing on Garvey as a conservative who has backed former President Donald Trump — a strategy that boosted the under-funded Republican into the November runoff and avoided an expensive battle with a fellow Democrat like Porter.
Independent groups, like Super PACs, spent about $21 million in the race, half of that attacking Porter.
U.S. House – District 16
The most expensive race in the Bay Area is also the race with the thinnest of margins, where State Assemblyman Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian are still just votes apart in a second-place battle to face former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in November. A final top-two might not get sorted for weeks, and expensive recalls could bring the total even higher before the November ballot for Congressional District 16 is finalized.
The pool of 11 candidates in the race spent $5.7 million in the 6 weeks from Jan. 1 through Feb. 14, with four candidates taking the clear lead in spending, including Peter Dixon, who is currently ranking fifth in the results, and by far had the most expensive votes around. His campaign spent the equivalent of $129 per vote. Liccardo spent nearly $26, Low about $34 and Simitian $31.
And that doesn’t include spending by independent groups, including an additional $1.3 million from the Next Generation Veteran Fund in support of Dixon. The handful of independent groups reported spending $2.8 million in total through election day in support and opposition of the candidates.
Combined, that $8.5 million works out to about $47 per voter in that race, and with Simitian and Low likely to have more expenses with a recount on the horizon those costs will likely inflate further before the top-two start spending for the November general.
California Senate – District 5 and District 7
Two Bay Area races for State Senate ranked among the most expensive legislative races in the state, with Senate District 7 inspiring nearly $5 million in spending, and the voters in Senate District 5 the subjects of $3.3 million in political spending.
Those millions heavily contributed to the advertising blitz that peaked in the weeks before the election, and flooded Bay Area television channels with political ads, and filled local mailboxes — and recycling bins — with political mailers.
The race for Senate District 7 was the most expensive State Senate race in the state, with the candidates campaigns and a long list of independent groups collectively spending over $25 per vote.
The biggest spender, Kathryn Lybarger, did not make it through the primary, but her campaign spent about $20 per vote. Jesse Arreguin, the first-place winner, spent almost exactly the same amount of money but got more than twice as many votes, each one working out to about $9.
Jovanka Beckles finished second in that race, spending the least, about $4 per vote.
The dollars per vote for Senate District 5 weren’t far behind, working out to $19 per voter, with the Republican candidate Jim Shoemaker coming in first, spending less than $1 per vote. His Democratic opponent for the general election, Jerry McNerney, spent more, about $4 per vote. But the biggest spender was Carlos Villapudua, who spent nearly half a million and didn’t make it through the primary, working out to $11 per vote.
Independent groups contributed an additional $2.7 million, $16 per voter in the race.