Follow the money: Gavin Newsom recall edition

The forecast for this summer is hot, with high wildfire risk and a fever-pitch campaign to determine the political fate of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The fight to recall Newsom has already consumed state politics, with the governor in campaign mode since March and both sides reporting millions of dollars in the bank. The recall date has been set for Sept. 14. It will be the second major election in as many years and a third is on the way in 2022.

For recall backers, money and grassroots support will be critical in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans two to one.

We’ll be following the money, updating this page daily with data from the Secretary of State. As always, let us know what questions you have about the cash funding this wild ride of an election.

How much money has each side raised?

Where is the money coming from?

Who is giving the money?

Unlike contributions to candidates, there are no limits on how much donors can give to the recall committees. Here are the top ten contributors to each side.

How much have the challengers raised?

John Cox, who lost to Newsom in 2018, has raised the most by far: more than $5.2 million. That includes a $5 million contribution from himself.

Unlike the campaign defending Newsom against the recall, the candidates are under the usual limits of $32,400 from any single contributor. Still, nine candidate committees registered for the 2021 election have reported donations exceeding $100,000.

And we want to hear from you!

Methodology

The data is updated daily from the California Secretary of State’s Cal-Access database.

We add itemized and unitemized contributions to get the total raised by each side, though we only use itemized contributions for the by-state analysis as contributor information is not reported for unitemized contributions.

We ignore contributions between committees that are on the same side of the issue, as they are essentially transfers.

To avoid double-counting some contributions from Patriot Coalition USA and Rescue California, two pro-recall committees, we are ignoring non-monetary contributions made to Patriot Coalition. This is because money raised by Rescue California that was earmarked for principal committee activities, such as signature gathering, must be reported by both committees.

This tracker includes committees formed by candidates specifically for the recall. We’re currently tracking the following ballot measure and candidate committees: