{"id":973755,"date":"2026-08-01T15:24:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/973755\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T15:24:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:24:15","slug":"three-l-a-city-candidates-pull-way-ahead-of-their-rivals-in-fundraising-but-its-still-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/973755\/","title":{"rendered":"Three L.A. city candidates pull way ahead of their rivals in fundraising. But it’s still early."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record \u2014 our City Hall newsletter. It\u2019s David Zahniser, with an assist from Gavin J. Quinton, giving you the latest on city and county government.<\/p>\n

Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy<\/b> did big numbers in the June 2 primary election, coming in first place in the race for city attorney and knocking City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto <\/b>out of the running entirely.<\/p>\n

Roy secured 43% of the vote in round one. Now that she\u2019s in a head-to-head contest against Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney<\/b>, she\u2019s well ahead in fundraising as well.<\/p>\n

Campaign spending reports for the Nov. 3 runoff, filed over the last few days, show that Roy\u2019s campaign collected nearly $74,000<\/a> during the fundraising period that ended June 30. By comparison, McKinney collected just $3,000, according to his own contribution report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI plan to be a City Attorney for the people, and I\u2019m proud to have a campaign supported by the people. If your campaign isn\u2019t, then I think it\u2019s fair to ask who it is for,\u201d Roy said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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The race is one of three downballot contests where the candidate who came in first on June 2 is also well ahead in the scramble for campaign contributions. Things were similarly lopsided in council races in South L.A. and the San Fernando Valley. <\/p>\n

McKinney, who received nearly 29% of the vote in the primary, said his campaign will have plenty of resources to \u201ceducate voters that Marissa Roy is a bad fit for Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent financial disclosure reflects just one week of activity,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cSince the June 30th [fundraising] deadline, we\u2019ve raised more than $65,000 from more than 80 individual donors and have nearly 15 fundraising events scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of the donors who gave to Roy occupy the left end of the political spectrum, such as Loraine Lundquist, <\/b>who ran for City Council twice in the San Fernando Valley, losing both times to Councilmember John Lee<\/b>. Roy also picked up a donation from airport commissioner Victor Narro<\/b><\/a>, <\/b>project director for the UCLA Labor Center.<\/p>\n

Roy received $1,800 from attorney Carol Sobel<\/b>, who has sued the city<\/a> many times on behalf of various clients over policing<\/a> and its treatment of the homeless population<\/a>. Another $1,800 came from Genie Harrison<\/b>, who is representing former fire chief Kristin Crowley<\/b> in her lawsuit over her ouster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McKinney, who works for Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman<\/b>, is likely to have his own big-money support in the coming weeks. During the primary, an array of well-financed allies, including Airbnb, spent a combined $3.2 million on efforts to elect him.<\/p>\n

In South L.A., Ugarte ramps up his fundraising<\/p>\n

The fundraising was also lopsided in the race to replace City Councilmember Curren Price<\/b>, a veteran lawmaker who is stepping down after 13 years in a district stretching from the Convention Center south to 95th Street.<\/p>\n

Former Price aide Jose Ugarte <\/b>collected about $35,000<\/a> for the runoff, much of it from other city workers, particularly council aides, records show.<\/p>\n

Community organizer Estuardo Mazariegos<\/b> took in about $5,400<\/a>, pulling in donations from the progressive L.A. Forward Action Fund and from Lundquist, the former council candidate.<\/p>\n

A number of elected officials have lined up behind Ugarte, who garnered 39% of the vote in the primary. He received $1,000 apiece from State Assemblymembers Mark Gonzalez <\/b>(D-Los Angeles), Mike Fong<\/b> (D-Alhambra) and Jos\u00e9 Luis Solache <\/b>(D-Lynwood), according to his filing. Ugarte also received $1,000 each from former Councilmember David Ryu<\/b> and from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

Records show that Ugarte received $1,000 from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file police officers, but then returned the contribution. Ugarte does not accept donations from the police union, his campaign strategist said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support Mayor Bass\u2019s efforts to increase staffing, strengthen community policing, and improve transparency and accountability. I also want to see more officers on foot patrols and bike patrols in our neighborhoods,\u201d Ugarte said in a statement. \u201cReturning this contribution does not change or influence my views on these priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Valley, Gaspar pulls in a big haul<\/p>\n

In the race to replace Councilmember Bob Blumenfield <\/b>in the west San Fernando Valley, businessman Tim Gaspar <\/b>is proving to be a fundraising powerhouse.<\/p>\n

Gaspar reported more than $180,000 in donations<\/a> to his runoff campaign through June 30, compared with about $31,000 for Barri Worth Girvan<\/b>, an aide to County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, <\/b>according to her filing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter finishing with the most votes in the primary, our campaign is grateful for the outpouring of support from business owners, neighbors, and friends across the West Valley,\u201d Gaspar said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Gaspar received 46% of the vote in the primary, compared with more than 42% for Worth Girvan.<\/p>\n

In an interview, Worth Girvan said she\u2019s not troubled by the fundraising gap. During the primary, backers of Gaspar spent about $1.4 million on independent expenditures supporting his election bid. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe still came within 4 percentage points,\u201d she said. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s always been about the voters, so that\u2019s what I\u2019m focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Worth Girvan picked up donations from longtime Democrats, including Gonzlaez, the state Assembly member, former state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon <\/b>and Ryu, the former City Council member. She told The Times her fundraising picked up significantly after the June 30 fundraising deadline, bringing her total haul to more than $100,000.<\/p>\n

Gaspar picked up donations from several public safety unions, including $1,000 from the Police Protective League and $500 from a political action committee set up by the city\u2019s port police. He received $1,000 from real estate developer Rick Caruso<\/b>, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022.<\/p>\n

State of play<\/p>\n

\u2014 WINDS OF CHANGE: <\/b>For the first time since 1963, L.A.\u2019s 9th Council District will not have a Black representative. The race to represent that South L.A. district features two Latino candidates<\/a> who immigrated to the U.S. as children, both of them undocumented at the time. Ugarte, the former council aide, was born in Oaxaca and is Mazateco, an Indigenous group native to the Mexican state. Mazariegos, a community organizer, was born in Guatemala.<\/p>\n

\u2014 DISAPPEARING ACT: <\/b>Records dealing with the activities of the Los Angeles Police Department \u2014 emails, text messages, audio recordings \u2014 have vanished from a city website<\/a> devoted to the release of public information. Although the removal of such records does not violate any laws, \u201cit\u2019s certainly not a best practice,\u201d one expert said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 PERMIT PROBLEMS: <\/b>A representative of Lineage, whose massive cold storage facility burned down in Boyle Heights two months ago, filed a permit this week<\/a> to rebuild the company\u2019s 491,000-square-foot warehouse to its original pre-fire condition. Bass called the filing a \u201cslap in the face\u201d to families in Boyle Heights and ordered her department heads to put the application on hold<\/a> until the site receives extensive study.<\/p>\n

\u2014 SCHOOLS AND SAFETY: <\/b>Meanwhile, with less than two weeks left before the start of school, families in Boyle Heights and East L.A. are worried about health and safety<\/a> at eight campuses located within a mile of the Lineage site, which has been beset with the stench of rotting food<\/a>, rats and swarms of flies.<\/p>\n

\u2014 ZOO COUP: <\/b>Feldstein Soto may have lost her bid for a second term, but she did rack up a key court victory<\/a> in the city\u2019s battle over money for the Los Angeles Zoo. The city has been trying to claw back about $50 million raised for the facility by the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., the nonprofit that helped run it until recently. GLAZA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, citing \u201cincessant litigation\u201d from the city. This week, at the city\u2019s request, a judge dismissed the bankruptcy filing.<\/p>\n

\u2014 TAKING IT TO THE STREETS: <\/b>L.A. is on track to repeal a city law<\/a> prohibiting kids from playing baseball, basketball, soccer or other ball games out in the street. The law was passed in 1936 out of a fear that children would be struck by cars. Councilmember Bob Blumenfield <\/b>says it\u2019s time the ordinance was erased from the books.<\/p>\n

\u2014 FIXING THEIR MISTAKE: <\/b>L.A. County\u2019s Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to send voters a charter amendment that would reverse the repeal of Measure J<\/a>, which was approved six years ago and sets aside money for alternatives to incarceration. Measure J, through a series of errors, was supplanted in 2024 by Measure G, which will increase the number of supervisors. The new measure would restore Measure J to the county charter.<\/p>\n

\u2014 SPEAKING OF ERRORS: <\/b>Last week, we mentioned a proposal<\/a> to reduce the number of required council meetings from three per week down to one, saying that the idea failed to make the ballot. That was wrong! The measure will in fact go before voters<\/a> in the Nov. 3 election as part of Charter Amendment EE.<\/p>\n

QUICK HITS<\/p>\n