New donation disclosures show more than $1.5 million was spent in just 28 days — from Sept. 20 to Oct. 17 — in an effort to sway voter decisions in the four San Diego City Council races on the Nov. 3 ballot.
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Total contributions in the four races have also surpassed $5 million, which the League of Women Voters has declared a new record for a San Diego city election.
Of the $1.51 million spent during the most recent disclosure period, more than half was poured into the District 2 battle between Democrat Nicole Crosby and Republican-turned-independent Richard Bailey.
The District 2 race also got a large injection of cash from just one man during the period: Point Loma attorney Steven Richter contributed $450,000 to a committee supporting Bailey.
The District 8 battle between Democrats Antonio Martinez and Gerardo Ramirez also attracted lots of spending during the period — nearly $450,000.
The largest labor union representing city workers, the Municipal Employees Association, is trying to sway all four races by making major contributions in each.
The union sent mailers during the period supporting Crosby, Martinez and incumbent Council Democrats Henry Foster in District 4 and Kent Lee in District 6.
MEA, which spent $156,000 during the 28-day period, also sent mailers opposing Foster’s runoff challenger, Democrat Martha Abraham, and Lee’s runoff challenger, Republican Mark Powell.
The city’s firefighters union, which is supporting both Martinez and Abraham this election cycle, focused almost entirely on Abraham during the period, devoting nearly all the $66,000 it spent to mailers and digital ads supporting her.
While most of the council races’ $1.51 million total was spent on mailers, significant amounts were also spent on digital ads, social media videos, door hangers, text messages, yard signs and polling to hone messages.
In District 2, which includes Point Loma and Clairemont, committees favoring Bailey outspent committees favoring Crosby by a relatively narrow margin, $430,000 to $350,000.
Since the start of the year, committees favoring Crosby and Bailey have both raised roughly $700,000 each.
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The committees supporting Crosby are almost entirely funded by labor unions, but they have also gotten contributions from the Sycuan tribe, the county Democratic Party and Sempra.
The committees supporting Bailey have gotten their money from individual donors like Richter and developer Tom Sudberry, companies like Verizon and organizations like the Lincoln Club and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
When it comes to more traditional contributions made directly to candidates by individuals, Bailey has raised $366,000 this year while Crosby has raised $67,000.
During the 28-day disclosure period, Bailey outraised Crosby $39,000 to $16,000 and outspent her $64,000 to $32,000.
In District 8, which includes South Bay neighborhoods such as Logan Heights and San Ysidro, committee spending during the period favored Martinez roughly two to one, about $240,000 to about $120,000.
In traditional contributions from individuals, Martinez narrowly outraised Ramirez during the period $21,000 to $16,000 and outspent him $36,000 to $21,000.
When traditional contributions for all of 2026 are tallied, Ramirez has outraised Martinez $68,000 to $41,000.
In District 4, which includes much of southeastern San Diego, committee spending during the period favored Foster with $90,000, all from MEA, compared to Abraham with $66,000, all from the firefighters union.
In traditional contributions, Abraham dominated during the period — $18,000 to $5,000 — and narrowly outspent Foster, $28,000 to $27,000. For 2026 in total, Foster leads in contributions $114,000 to $67,000.
In District 6, which includes Mira Mesa and University City, the only committee action has been from MEA, which spent $11,000 on a mailer supporting Lee and $11,000 on a mailer opposing Powell.
The candidates each raised less than $10,000 during the disclosure period.
Candidates and committees must file disclosures one more time before the election, on Oct. 30.
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