With little less than two weeks to go, campaign finance reports show millions of dollars in outside spending across June Primary battles throughout the Central Valley.
Here’s a look at how the outside spending is impacting races for the Legislature and some local seats:
Discrepancy in AD 31: The contest to succeed Asm. Joaquin Arambula (D–Fresno) in the 31st district shows the greatest financial discrepancy among all races throughout the Valley.
- Fresno City Councilwoman Annalisa Perea, who already boasted $391,000 in her war chest at the last reporting period, has received significant support from outside groups.
- Overall, there has been over $1.5 million in outside spending in support of Perea. The largest chunk of that spending has come from the super PAC California leads, which is backed by the state’s tech industry. California Leads has spent roughly $960,000 to support Perea, mostly through television and digital advertising.
- The other major spending in support of Perea has come from the California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC, which has spent over $345,000 on canvassing.
- It’s a stark contrast to fellow Democrat contender Sandra Celedon, the CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities who is Arambula’s hand-picked successor.
- Celedon had around $131,000 in the bank at the last reporting period and has benefitted from over $53,000 in outside spending.
- A group named Fresno Families for Affordability Supporting Sandra Celedon for Assembly 2026 has spent over $24,000 on mailers, while the other groups spending on Celedon’s behalf include CA Youth Power PAC, Courage California State PAC and the California Workies Families Party.
South Valley spending: With Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Delano) vacating her seat representing District 35 in order to run for Congress, outside groups are spending millions of dollars to weigh in on who should replace her.
- Bakersfield City Councilman Andrae Gonzales has had outside groups spend nearly $1.9 million to support him.
- California Leads is also supporting Gonzales in the race, spending over $1.1 million in the hopes of getting him elected to the Assembly. Some of the other top spenders backing Gonzales are the California Apartment Association, Keep California Golden and Keeping Californians Working.
- Nurses and Educators for Healthy CA Communities has driven all outside spending against Gonzales, running up a tab totaling more than $300,000.
- Ana Palacio has had outside groups backing her to the tune of roughly $390,000. Such groups include Nurses and Educators for Healthy CA Communities, Fix Kern PAC and Service Employees International Union Local 521.
- But outside groups have spent over $680,000 in opposition to Palacio. The most spending in opposition comes from the group Californians for Accountability Against Ana Palacio in AD 35, which has spent around $330,000 against her. The other top spending group is JobsPAC, which has racked up a bill of around $270,000 in opposition spending.
Other Legislative races: Asm. Minority Leader Heath Flora (R–Ripon) is fending off a fierce challenge from fellow Republican Jim Shoemaker, who has the backing of the local GOP groups and Rep. Tom McClintock (R–Elk Grove).
- Flora’s personal fundraising has only left him with around $67,000 in the bank, as of the last reporting period, although Shoemaker reported around $13,000 on hand.
- Outside groups have picked up the slack for Flora, spending over $345,000 to support his reelection bid. Those groups are Californians to Preserve and Protect Local Jobs and Essential Community Services, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association Local PAC, Citizens and Communities for Fair Government and Valley Taxpayers Defenders.
- While Shoemaker has not had any outside spending come his way, Californians to Preserve and Protect Local Jobs and Essential Community Services has spent nearly $60,000 to support Democrat Matthew Adams – an apparent attempt to prevent Shoemaker from advancing alongside Flora to the November election.
- Over in the Senate District 14 race, Asm. Esmeralda Soria (D–Fresno) has benefitted from over $500,000 in spending from outside groups to go along with the $663,000 she had on hand at the last reporting period.
- The groups supporting Soria are California Leads, Valley Voices for Soria for Senate 2026, the California Apartment Association and Table Mountain Rancheria.
County supervisor races: Fresno County Supervisor candidates Mike Karbassi and Margaret Mims have received significant support from outside groups in their respective races.
- The groups have similar names and have spent over $335,000 to support them.
- Family Businesses & Public Safety for Fresno Supervisor Margaret Mims 2026 has spent roughly $163,000 in support of Mims.
- Family Business & Public Safety for Mike Karbassi for Fresno Supervisor 2026 has spent around $173,000 in support of Karbassi. Moving the Central Valley Forward PAC has also spent $2,300 in support of Karbassi.
- The only other outside spending in the Fresno County races came from Valley Watchdogs, who spent nearly $3,000 on mailers opposing Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran in her race against Mims.
- In Madera County, California United Water Coalition PAC has spent close to $25,000 to support three candidates. The group spent nearly $6,900 to support John Chavez in the District 2 race, over $7,000 to support Benjamin Martin in the District 1 race and $10,600 to support Mark Reed for District 3.
- Moving Madera Forward PAC spent over $6,900 in support of District 1 Supervisor Jordan Wamhoff. On his own, Wamhoff holds an outsized, six-figure advantage over his opponent, Benjamin Martin.
Fresno City Council races: Most of the outside spending in the Fresno City Council races has come from the One Fresno Coalition.
- The group has spent roughly $45,000 to support Rob Fuentes, Fernando Alvarez, Danielle Parra and Nav Gurm in their respective races.
- The California Working Families Party has spent $10,000 in support of Ariana Martinez Lott, who is running in District 7 against Gurm, A.J. Rassamni and Jason Keomanee.
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