Follow the money: Bloomberg drops $1M on Breed, Moritz puts $1.5M into charter reform

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With just about two months to go until election day, fundraising is snowballing: In the last seven days, close to $5 million was raised in San Francisco for local races. That brings the total money amassed to a stunning $32,595,515. 

That $5 million comes mostly from high-level donors who have already donated in this election cycle — and appear to be reinforcing their support with more money. Namely, two influential Michaels: Bloomberg and Moritz. 

Bloomberg, the billionaire and former mayor of New York City, donated $1 million to the PAC supporting Mayor London Breed’s reelection. In December, Bloomberg contributed $200,000 to the same PAC, and $500 — the maximum contribution — to her candidate campaign. 

Breed endorsed Bloomberg’s 2020 run for president after then-Sen. Kamala Harris withdrew prior to the California primary. Bloomberg is a heavy donor to San Francisco politics, previously giving at least $28.9 million since 2008. The lion’s share of that money went to pass the sugary drinks tax and defend the city’s e-cigarette ban. 

Bloomberg received just 11 percent of San Franciscans’ votes in the 2020 Democratic primary. But Breed’s endorsement seems to have paid off in other ways. 

Moritz, meanwhile, is a billionaire tech investor and former journalist. He has doubled down on his support for the TogetherSF ballot measure, Proposition D, which would reduce the number of city commissions and broaden mayoral powers. In January, Moritz contributed just shy of $1 million to the measure; last week, he contributed $1.5 million. 

TogetherSF’s committee for Proposition D continues to vastly outraise every other ballot measure: the latest fundraising total is at $5.4 million. Moritz is a major benefactor of TogetherSF and the San Francisco Standard. He has given more than $300 million to various causes across San Francisco.

Over a quarter of all funds raised for the November election were raised in August

$10M

$9M

$8M

$7M

$6M

$5M

$4M

$3M

$2M

$1M

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

$10M

$9M

$8M

$7M

$6M

$5M

$4M

$3M

$2M

$1M

0

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

Jun.

Aug.

Jul.

Source: San Francisco Ethics Commission. Chart by Kelly Waldron.

Here are the latest big money moves from August 28 through September 3. 

Uber, Lyft stand against Prop. L 

Uber has gone all in on trying to defeat Proposition L, “The Community Transit Act,” which would tax rideshare companies like Uber and their autonomous vehicle counterparts (Waymo, Cruise) to fund public transportation. 

The firm contributed $764,858 dollars to “No on Prop L” last week. 

Unsurprisingly, Lyft has also gone all in defeating Proposition L. Last week, the firm contributed $90,000 to oppose the measure, bringing its total contributions to $115,000. 

Those supporting the measure, namely a handful of transportation activists, including Chris Arvin and Cyrus Hall, have raised some $128,000. In the last week, $4,525 was raised from three donors. 

Steady fundraising for top mayoral candidates 

While donors like Bloomberg have turned heads with gaudy gives, much if not most of the money amassed in the last week also emanates from deep pockets: The $4.94 million raised came from only 33 donors. 

Here are some of the other notable contributors from the last week: 

• Daniel Lurie, one of the top mayoral candidates, continues to outraise his opponents with his own money. Last week, he donated $850,000 to his own campaign. He previously gave $2,605,000. 
• Anatoly Yakovenko, another tech founder, contributed $50,000 to support Proposition K, which would permanently close the Great Highway to cars. The measure has drawn a number of big-ticket contributions from the tech community, including Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman. 
• Erica and Jeffrey Lawson. The couple has donated $100,000 to the PAC supporting Breed. Erica Lawson is a doctor at UCSF and her husband, Jeffrey, is the co-founder of Twilio, a tech firm, and owner of the Onion, a media company that publishes satirical articles. 
• G. Leonard Baker Jr, a venture capitalist based in Palo Alto, gave $20,074 in support of Proposition D.
• Min Chang, a Board of Education candidate, donated $15,000 in support of her own campaign. 
• Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition PAC. The Oakland-based labor union gave $12,500 in support of Breed. 

Anything notable we’ve missed? Email me at kelly@missionlocal.com and we’ll get it into a future dispatch.