Campaign finance reports covering July 1 through Dec. 31 were due Thursday, offering the first look at where money is flowing in a Bexar County Judge contest between two popular, well-known Democrats. <\/p>\n
In total, former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg<\/a> raised more, leaning hard on the money of a few large donors to make up for lost time in an office <\/strong>where individual donors could only give $1,000 per campaign cycle.<\/p>\n Incumbent Peter Sakai<\/a> brought in less money but reported a bigger campaign war chest, amassed over the course of three years in a role with no contribution limits.<\/p>\n Nirenberg reported roughly $360,000 raised between July 1 and Dec. 31<\/a>, plus a $100,000 loan from local philanthropist Harvey Najim, leaving him with about $355,000 on hand as of Dec. 31.<\/p>\n Sakai raised about $254,000<\/a> during that same span and ended the year with $563,000 on hand.<\/p>\n Neither candidate had spent much on the most recent reports, with early voting for the March 3 primary starting Feb. 17.<\/p>\n In a busy season of campaign events, Sakai and Nirenberg will face off in a debate hosted by the San Antonio Report<\/a> at Stable Hall on Feb. 10, one week before early voting kicks off.<\/p>\n Nirenberg\u2019s biggest funders<\/p>\n Nirenberg, who termed out as San Antonio\u2019s mayor this year, had been raising money for a future campaign even before leaving that office, though he wasn\u2019t sure what race it would be.<\/p>\n In August he closed out his city campaign account, where mayoral candidates can only collect up to $1,000 from an individual donor each campaign cycle, and started a Texans for Ron Nirenberg PAC<\/a> to be the fundraising vehicle for whatever came next.<\/p>\n From there he was able to collect a $50,000 check from his old campaign hand <\/strong>Christian Archer and a $25,000 check from Najim, among other smaller contributions.<\/p>\n Nirenberg ultimately passed on a potential statewide bid<\/a>, where assembling the resources would have been a big challenge. But since county offices have no contribution limits, he was able to roll the PAC money into his campaign account for the judge race. <\/p>\n Nirenberg spent about $100,000 in the past six months through the PAC and campaign, some of which went toward his campaign consultants at Viva Politics, which worked on Sakai\u2019s race in 2022.<\/p>\n He also has a federal PAC, called One Community, with about $40,000 in the bank<\/a> as of last June.<\/p>\n Sakai\u2019s biggest funders<\/p>\n Sakai, meanwhile, entered 2025 under pressure from the business community to deliver a deal on a new Spurs arena. <\/p>\n