Quick Take
Across three races for seats on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, money has been flowing from all over the county and even beyond its borders.
Earlier this week, Lookout published a series of graphics depicting the who of this primary election’s campaign finance: which people or organizations had made the largest donations across Santa Cruz County’s many March primary election campaigns. Now, we turn to the where, with a focus on the three races for county supervisor.
District 1
Since Jan. 1, 2023, donors have put $148,000 into the campaigns of incumbent supervisor Manu Koenig and his challenger, Lani Faulkner.
Koenig, who has raised more than $78,550, leads Faulkner by about $9,100. While a vast majority of the donations have come from within the county, 19.6% of Koenig’s money has come from ZIP codes outside the county; 12.4% of Faulkner’s funds have come from beyond the county’s boundaries.
Within the county, both candidates raised their highest totals from the 95062 ZIP code, which is the heart and population base of District 1 and includes Twin Lakes, Live Oak and Soquel. With nearly $18,600, Faulkner raised significantly more than Koenig’s roughly $8,600 from the 95060 area, which includes the city of Santa Cruz.
District 2
In District 2, which spans from Aptos down to Pajaro Dunes and out to Corralitos, four of the five candidates raised more than $2,000, with Kim De Serpa leading all opponents with $37,232 raised, barely edging out Kristen Brown, who has raised $34,285.
However, Brown has received more of her money from out of the county, 39.8%, while 27.3% of De Serpa's money has come from outside Santa Cruz County. David Schwartz leads all candidates in portion of funds received from outside the county, with 58.7%.
For De Serpa and Bruce Jaffe, the 95003 ZIP code, which includes Aptos, Rio Del Mar and Seascape, offered the highest percentage of campaign funds, with 55.8% and 67%, respectively. For Brown, who serves as Capitola's mayor, the 95010 ZIP code was the most lucrative: 40.7% of her donations came from Capitola's ZIP code. For Schwartz, the sweet spot was 95076, which includes La Selva, Pajaro Dunes and Corralitos.
District 5
Although District 5 has been largely a two-person race in terms of campaign finance, Monica Martinez has significantly outraised her closest opponent, Christopher Bradford, by roughly 5 to 1.
Yet, more than a quarter of Martinez's money, 27.6%, has come from outside Santa Cruz County, while 19.6% of Bradford's has come from elsewhere.
Martinez's in-county contributions have come from several ZIP codes, but the area she benefited most from was 95018, which includes Zayante, Lompico and her home base of Felton. Likewise, Bradford received the most money from 95006, which includes his own home community of Boulder Creek. Only 6% of Martinez's money came from Scotts Valley and 95066, while 13.6% of Bradford's in-county donations came from the Santa Cruz Mountains' lone incorporated city.
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