Congress Candidates Money Count
Capps Leads the Pack by Wide Margin
Five of the nine candidates running for the 24th District Congressional seat beefed up their campaign coffers in recent weeks, one hasn’t raised more money since the last filing deadline, and the other three haven’t received any money. The top two vote-getters in the June 3 primary will head to the November election.
Incumbent Democrat Lois Capps remains in the fundraising lead, upping her campaign wallet from $1.3 million to $1.4 million, with just more than $1 million on hand. Capps hasn’t taken on any debt to pay for her campaign, unlike some of her challengers, and hasn’t donated any of her own money to her efforts, either. Most of her money came from individual donors (including trash magnate Mario Borgatello, who gave $2,500 each to Capps and rival Dale Francisco), with most of the rest coming from political action committees.
Republican Justin Fareed remains Capps’s biggest financial challenger, amassing $304,328 — $160,305 of which he loaned himself. Fareed reported $96,866 on hand and $209,601 in debt. Francisco, a Republican Santa Barbara City Councilmember, has scored $159,150, mostly from individual donors and $32,000 from himself; Francisco has $5,699 available and $56,959 owed.
Republican Chris Mitchum, who has challenged Capps before, increased his coffers to $119,832 from $78,582. He loaned himself an extra $30,000, increasing his own donations to $92,000; he has $12,893 on hand and $161,485 in debt. Dr. Bradley Allen, a Republican, saw his donations jump from $4,041 to $28,921, with $14,970 available. Conservative Democrat Paul Coyne Jr. hasn’t reported any additional money to his $64,629 previously disclosed. Candidates Steve Isakson, Sandra Marshall, and Cynthia Alexis Stuart continue to report no donations.
