Who is behind the largest campaign donations in Santa Cruz County’s primary election cycle?

UPDATE: The data reflects monetary contributions reported on FPPC forms 460 (schedule A) and 497 has been updated to remove some duplicate entries.

Across four ballot measures and seven open county and city seats, Santa Cruz County campaigns in this primary election season have raised roughly $640,000 through nearly 1,500 total donations.

How money flows into campaign coffers tells many stories. It can show us whom candidates have been courting and where organizations have placed their bets. It tells us about priorities and preferences as well as loyalties. In this final week ahead of the March 5 election, Lookout will be publishing stories on what we’ve learned, through monetary contribution data, about the candidates and who is funding them.

This first look focuses on the who of campaign donations. Who are the major funders of these campaigns? Which companies, organizations and sitting politicians have donated the most, and how have they spent it?

The donations break down across the four measures and 19 candidates running for seven seats. Measure K is the county’s sales tax increase and Measure L is the city of Santa Cruz’s sales tax increase. Measure M is the ballot initiative in the city of Santa Cruz that would restrict the city’s ability to increase building heights and require higher portions of affordable housing. Measure N is the tax proposed in Mid- and South County to raise money for publicly owned Watsonville Community Hospital.

As for candidates, three county supervisor seats are up for grabs in District 1, District 2 and District 5. In the city of Santa Cruz, four city council seats are open in Districts 1, 2, 3 and 5.

Note about using the graphs: Many of the graphs below do not have legends because there are more than 20 campaigns to include. Instead, you can click on each bar to see which campaign received a specific donation. Alternatively, each graph includes a drop-down menu towards the top, which allows you to select the specific campaigns you want to view

Local companies and corporations have gotten directly involved in this year’s primary election, and the four ballot measures have drawn the largest donations. The largest single donation during this primary came from affordable housing developer MidPen Housing Corp., injecting $30,000 into supporting the county’s sales tax increase; the company also put $5,000 towards defeating the city’s Measure M, the effort to restrict the Santa Cruz City Council’s ability to increase building heights.

Berry behemoth Driscoll’s invested $20,000 into supporting the tax for Watsonville Community Hospital. La Bahia Holding Company and S.C. Beach Hotel Partners, which are connected to Ensemble Investments, the company that owns the Dream Inn and is involved in developing the La Bahia Hotel on Beach Street, put $30,000 into the city of Santa Cruz election: $25,000 into supporting the city’s sales tax increase and $5,000 opposing the Measure M, which drew a total of $34,000 from its five largest donors, all of whom are in the real estate and development industry.

Nonprofits, political action committees, unions and community groups have also been active in this primary. In the races for city and county seats, the California Association of Realtors has outspent every other group, totaling $4,250, with $1,000 donations to incumbent District 1 Supervisor Manu Koenig, District 2 opponents Kristen Brown and Kim De Serpa, and District 5 candidate Monica Martinez. Incumbent District 3 Santa Cruz City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson also received $250 from the PAC.

The SMART TD, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, which represents Santa Cruz Metro bus drivers, also spread its wealth among local candidates with $4,200 in campaign donations, including $1,000 donations each to Koenig and his challenger, Lani Faulkner. Koenig, Brown and Martinez were the only candidates financially supported by the nonprofit Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriff’s Association.

Service Employees International Union led all organizations in contributions toward measures, putting $10,000 toward the county’s sales tax increase and $5,000 toward the city’s. Sempervirens Fund, the nonprofit focused on preserving redwood forests, donated $5,000 each to the two sales tax measures.

Santa Cruz Together put $5,000 toward stopping the Measure M, while the San Luis Obispo-based nonprofit Environment in the Public Interest spent $5,000 supporting Measure M. Local social services nonprofit Community Bridges was the only organization among the top donors to support the Watsonville Community Hospital tax.

Among the nearly 1,500 donations made in local primary campaigns, several came from sitting elected officials.

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley was the politician most active in supporting candidates and measures. Keeley donated $1,000 each to the city and county sales tax increases, $525 each to supervisor candidates Martinez and Faulkner, and $400 to Santa Cruz City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson’s reelection campaign. Keeley’s wife, Barbara, put $400 into Kalantari-Johnson’s campaign.

Not included in the chart above: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, whose district encompasses parts of South County, and state Sen. John Laird each put $10,000 toward supporting the tax to fund Watsonville Community Hospital. Both men played a lead role in pulling the hospital out of bankruptcy and into public ownership in 2022.

Distinct from direct campaign donations from companies, individual donors have the option to put down their employer. Lookout analyzed which employers came up most often, as well as which industries and professions.

More than $22,500 came from individuals in the real estate and development industry, and their favorite candidate was Koenig, who received more than $8,000. Koenig is seeking reelection to his second term representing District 1. Kim De Serpa, who is seeking the District 2 supervisor seat, received the second-most from the real estate and development industry, with $5,300.

Individuals who listed their job as “attorney” or “lawyer” contributed more than $12,000. Again, Koenig was the favorite of this monied profession, receiving more than $3,600 from attorneys.

Employees from the local sustainable packaging startup Cruz Foam led all donations by private companies, putting $4,038 into the pockets of local candidates. CEO John Felts, Chief Operating Officer Toby Corey and Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Nakajima each donated to Santa Cruz City Council District 1 candidate Gabriela Trigueiro, District 5 candidate Susie O’Hara and District 3 incumbent Kalantari-Johnson’s campaign. Chief Financial Officer Carlo Woods donated to O’Hara and Trigueiro. O’Hara received a total of $2,000 from Cruz Foam employees, the most of any candidate.

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