Council seat sweepstakes

Candidates for Chico City Council are in the final stretch of campaign season, which means they’re ramping up spending on everything from mailers to billboards. To date, this could well be the most expensive race yet (in 2016, now-Mayor Sean Morgan raised about $62,000).

The seven candidates who are accepting donations have brought in a whopping $286,718. It should come as no surprise that the conservative trio has garnered the majority of that financial backing, with each of its three candidates bringing in more than $50,000.

Here are the numbers, as gathered from campaign finance documents filed with the city of Chico—the most recent reporting date being Sept. 22. The majority of the spending has occurred in the past couple of months, and it’s safe to expect that to increase as we inch closer to November.

· Progressive Alex Brown has raised $20,805.25. The majority of her contributions have come in smaller denominations of less than $100—with many $27. (Bernie Sanders famously received an average of $27 per donor and pulled in over $8 million during his run for the presidency in 2016.) The majority of her expenditures—which actually outpace her fundraising, at $21,557.06—have gone to billboards and mailers.

· In 2017, incumbent Andrew Coolidge raised $21,445, and this year his supporters have thrown in an additional $31,160, bringing his fundraising total to $52,605. About $10,000 was a loan to himself. The majority of his contributions came in the $250 range. To date, he’s spent the most—nearly $32,000—on his campaign, $21,000 the past couple of months. About $8,500 of that has gone toward campaign literature, plus $5,000 toward radio ads.

· Matt Gallaway has raised $62,721.50, with almost half of that coming in last year—$30,350—and the rest, $32,371.50, this year. The majority of his contributions were either $100 or $500, with only a handful clocking in at less than $100. As an architect and a conservative, it’s unsurprising that much of his campaign money has come from builders and developers. He’s spent about $20,000 to date, the majority on campaign literature.

· Among the progressives, Scott Huber has raised the most—$37,299.41—with the majority in donations of under $150. He’s spent about $23,500, much of it on lawn signs and billboards.

· Richard Ober took in $6,720 in 2017 and ramped up fundraising this year, bringing in $23,137 for a grand total of $29,857. Most of his contributions came in the $20-$100 range. He’s spent roughly $13,000, mostly on signs, billboards and mailers.

· Ken Rensink, who has vowed to not accept donations of more than $100, has raised just $10,045.61. Nearly all of that—$9,000—came in the form of a loan to himself. He’s spent about $7,000, most of it on billboards.

· Kasey Reynolds has raised $59,106.85 this year. Her case is a bit unique in that she originally threw her hat in the ring for Butte County supervisor, but switched gears earlier this year. She’d raised about $12,000 in 2017 for the former and, after expenditures, transferred about $6,000 to her City Council campaign. To date, she’s spent almost $25,000.

· There’s one political action committee participating in this year’s City Council election. It calls itself Chico Citizens for Accountable Government and is campaigning on behalf of Coolidge, Gallaway and Reynolds. It has raised $21,000, the majority of which has come in the form of $5,000 donations, most of them from local developers. It’s spent about half of what it’s brought in, almost all of it on “slate placement” for Gallaway and Reynolds. Note: While the candidates may not characterize themselves as part of a slate, they technically have no control over what kinds of advertising a PAC may do on their behalf.

· Candidate Jon Scott has filed no paperwork and has said he is not fundraising.