Karen Bass banks huge fundraising lead heading into mayoral runoff

Mayor Karen Bass is flexing her financial muscle in the race for City Hall, hauling in nearly three times as much cash as challenger Nithya Raman in the first fundraising stretch since the June primary.

Campaign finance filings released Friday show Bass raised $511,687 after the primary, dwarfing Raman’s $172,927 and giving the incumbent an early fundraising edge heading into the November showdown.

The latest filings also reinforce Bass’ overall financial dominance.

Since launching her reelection campaign, Bass has raised $3.77 million, compared with $1.19 million for Raman, a gap of nearly $2.6 million.

The candidates continued to draw support from different sectors of Los Angeles.

Raman’s contributors included television writers, producers, entertainment executives and technology workers, including her husband, Universal Television writer Vali Chandrasekaran.

Bass, meanwhile, attracted donations from attorneys, nonprofit executives, healthcare leaders, real estate professionals and longtime civic and political figures.

The report offers the first snapshot of fundraising after voters narrowed the race to Bass and Raman in the June primary.

It also marks a dramatic shift from the closing weeks of the primary, when former reality television star Spencer Pratt led all candidates in fundraising.

Between April 19 and May 16, Pratt raised $2.72 million, while Raman collected about $401,000, including a $60,000 loan to her own campaign. Bass raised just $283,000 during the same period.

With the crowded primary field now gone, Bass has quickly reclaimed the fundraising lead.

Bass’ campaign called June its strongest fundraising month of the election cycle.

“It’s no accident that June was our strongest month of the entire campaign. It shows that Angelenos understand the stakes of this election and are fully invested in winning this race in November,” Bass said in a statement.

The campaign also announced it qualified for an additional $675,368 in public matching funds, bringing its total available cash for the general election to more than $1.18 million.

Outside spending has also overwhelmingly favored the incumbent.

Independent expenditure committees have spent more than $2.55 million supporting Bass, compared with about $88,000 backing Raman, according to the filings.

Raman, however, continues to hold an advantage in the city’s public financing program.

She has received roughly $1.77 million in public matching funds, compared with about $1.26 million for Bass.

Outside groups have also spent about $1.2 million opposing Raman, while only about $15,000 has been spent opposing Bass.

The filings also highlighted a lopsided fundraising race for Los Angeles city attorney.

Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate Marissa Roy outraised former federal prosecutor John McKinney nearly 25-to-1 during the first reporting period of the general election, raising $73,776 compared with McKinney’s $3,000.

Roy also reported $144,607 cash on hand, nearly double McKinney’s $72,546, giving her an early financial edge heading into the November runoff.

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