Capps Leads Money Field

The nine candidates vying for the 24th District Congressional seat are scattered across the fundraising spectrum, with three of them reporting no money and the remaining six raising between $4,000 and $1.3 million. They will face off in the June 3 primary election, and the top two vote-getters will head to the November ballot.

According to figures released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), incumbent Representative Lois Capps is easily in the fundraising lead, with more than $1.3 million dollars amassed and more than $1.1 million on hand. Unlike some of her challengers, Capps hasn’t accrued any debt. The bulk of her money is split almost evenly between individual donors and political action committees (PACs). Capps’s individual donors include actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her husband, Brad Hall, who wrote her a combined $5,200 check. Philanthropist Sara Miller-McCune donated $5,100. First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, via his campaign account, donated $1,000. Jamal Hamdani, the chair of the Islamic Society of Santa Barbara, gave $2,600.

Capps’s PAC donations include $10,000 from the political wing of the American Nurses Association, $10,000 from the International Association of Firefighters, $8,750 from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and $5,000 from the Human Rights Campaign. Capps’s support from media behemoths’ PACs was also strong, with donations from Comcast Corporatoni ($3,000), Cox Enterprises ($5,000), DirecTV Group, Inc. ($2,500), and Time Warner Cable ($2,000). The Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee and the Raytheon Company gave Capps $1,500 and $3,000, respectively.

Coming in second place in fundraising is Republican Justin Fareed, who reported $224,897 in donations, with $167,022 available. He loaned himself $100,000 and reported debts of $110,710. Various family members contributed a total of $6,701 to Fareed’s campaign. Santa Barbara City councilmember Dale Francisco, also a Republican, has the third-best campaign coffers, with $107,875 amassed and $66,472 on hand. Francisco — whose donations included $2,600 from Gayle Pratt, wife of Santa Maria Energy president David Pratt — reported $31,232 worth of debt.

Second-time Republican candidate Chris Mitchum has netted $78,582, with $72,991 available. He loaned himself $62,000 and his campaign is $126,982 in debt. Conservative Democrat Paul Coyne, Jr. received $64,629 but is in debt for the $53,830 he loaned himself; he has $917 on hand. Republican Dr. Bradley Allen has scored only $4,041 and has $3,881 on hand. Candidates Steve Isakson, Sandra Marshall, and Cynthia Alexis Stuart haven’t reported any money.