SACRAMENTO — Plenty of money has flowed into Sacramento City Hall political campaigns this year.
The mayor’s race has four viable candidates heading into the primary Tuesday.
Former Councilmember Steve Hanson, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, former State Senator Dr. Richard Pan, and public health advocate Dr. Flo Cofer.
Sacramento political strategist Steve Maviglio is watching the race closely.
“It’s a wide-open race. There’s no clear favorite,” Maviglio said.
Maviglio says the Sacramento election has turned into a single-issue race.
“You can see it in the mail you’re getting in your mailbox everyday: homelessness, homelessness and homelessness. That is the top issue.”
In direct contributions reported:
- Steve Hansen has raised $609,000.
- Kevin McCarty has raised $790,000.
- Dr. Flo Cofer has raised $410,000.
- Dr. Richard Pan had raised $311,000.
“Money wins elections almost 95% of the time,” Maviglio said. “Whoever spends the most money wins an election.”
Besides the candidates’ contributions, city hall campaign finance records also show that outside interest groups have raised nearly $3 million to spend on the mayor and city council races so far this election year.
Current Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who has held his seat since 2016, announced last year that he would not run for re-election.
