Public financing gives candidates additional funds but places a cap on his spending. By sidestepping the public matching program, Lurie could run the risk of turning off some voters but he would be able to spend an unlimited sum.
“What we know from research is that self-funding is less effective,” said Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University. “It’s very difficult for someone to buy an election, as much as people worry about money.
The deadline to make a decision is June 14.
Lurie, who founded Tipping Point and raised hundreds of millions for the nonprofit thanks to his elite network of family and friends, has tapped well-heeled contacts like Marissa Mayer, the former CEO of Yahoo, and multiple members of the Getty clan to help his campaign.
But the campaign has spent money almost as fast as it has come in. Sizable payments for advertising and staff before the end of the year included: $77,400 to Thematic Campaigns; $46,400 to spokesperson Max Szabo; $42,000 to campaign manager Trishala Vinnakota; $30,000 to digital ad firm Uplift; $20,600 to Sutton Law Firm; and almost $16,000 to campaign finance director Duncan Cady, who graduated college in June.
Political insiders have long suspected Lurie will dip into his own bank account the way developer Rick Caruso did in his bid to become mayor of Los Angeles in 2022; Caruso spent more than $100 million of his own money and ultimately lost to Karen Bass. Although no one expects San Francisco’s contest to get that pricey, the mayor’s race is already expected to become the most expensive in city history.
“It’s been pretty inevitable [Lurie] will self-fund,” McDaniel said. “It was the theory from the beginning if he was going to raise his favorables and name recognition.”
