Voters cast their ballots on June 2 in Santa Cruz. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)

SANTA CRUZ >> With less than a week until the Nov. 3 general election, candidates across Santa Cruz County have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. While some races have donation limits, major donors have spent thousands to back their preferred candidates or ballot measures.

The biggest spenders in the election so far are:

• Labor unions.
• Nonprofit and health care organizations.
• Developers and other businesses.
• Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley.

Santa Cruz Local reviewed the latest round of campaign filings, with key findings below. 

Labor unions

Unions representing teachers, construction workers and other groups are major contributors. 

The largest spender in Santa Cruz County for the November election is the Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, which has spent $28,881 to support four PVUSD trustee candidates: Meilin Obinata for Area 1, Eriberto Estrada for Area 4, Alicia Jimenez for Area 5 and Mads Realmuto for Area 7.

The Monterey/Santa Cruz Building & Construction Trades Council also contributed to PVUSD trustee races. The union donated $2,500 for Area 1 candidate Andrew Goldenkranz, who is running against Obinata and Robin Sukow, and $2,500 for Area 7 incumbent trustee Misty Navarro, who is facing a challenge from Realmuto. It also gave $1,000 to incumbent Watsonville City Councilmember Casey Clark. 

Laborers Local Union 270 and North Coast States Carpenters Union each gave $5,000 to incumbent PVUSD Area 4 trustee Daniel Dodge Jr., who is challenged by Estrada. Dodge has close personal ties to labor groups; his father, Daniel Dodge Sr., is president of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council. 

Four seats are up for election on the PVUSD board. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local file)

The North Coast States Carpenters Union also gave $900 to Ryan Coonerty, candidate for Santa Cruz Mayor. Coonerty has raised $156,887 this year as of Oct. 17, including nonmonetary donations of goods and services. This is more than any mayor or city council candidate in the City of Santa Cruz since at least 2018.

Several unions have contributed to Central Coast Working Families, a PAC that has contributed to several campaigns and independently spent $8,170 to support Ami Chen Mills’ bid for Santa Cruz mayor. 

Donors to Central Coast Working Families include:

• Operating Engineers 3.
• Sheet Metal Workers Local 104.
• Pipe Trades District Council No. 36.
• County Employees Management Association.

The PAC was formed earlier this year to support Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church and Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez in the June primary. Church won reelection, and Hernandez lost to challenger Tony Nuñez, who is set to assume the role in January. The PAC has also spent $4,047 on Ed Acosta’s bid for Watsonville City Council. 

Chen Mills’ own campaign has raised $58,991 this year, and has spent $33,927 for the runoff as of Oct. 18. She has pledged to spend less than $52,267, the city’s voluntary limit. Coonerty did not accept the voluntary limit, and has spent $60,056 for the runoff as of Oct. 18. 

Service Employees International Union Local 521 spent $15,000 to support Measure E, the proposed countywide half-cent sales tax to raise money for social services to address the effects of the federal budget. 

Nonprofits and health care groups

Measure E also received major support from health care groups and organizations. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors have approved a non-binding resolution to prioritize health care organizations and other social services for Measure E funding. Hospitals and clinics are expected to see higher costs and more demand for services as provisions of H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, take effect. 

Residents attended an Oct. 28 meeting at Watsonville Community Hospital to oppose the shuttering of the maternity ward. It could close by March amid a deep financial crisis. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/Report for America)

• Watsonville Community Hospital Medical Staff, a professional body distinct from the hospital leadership, donated $25,000.
• Watsonville Hospital Community Foundation, an independent nonprofit that supports the hospital, gave $5,000.
• Nonprofit Dientes Community Dental gave $5,000.
• Nonprofit Community Bridges gave $10,000.
• Santa Cruz Community Health Centers, a nonprofit that operates community health clinics, donated $7,500.

Environmental organizations were the main backers for Measure D, the county effort that would require a public vote to approve on-shore facilities that support deep sea mining, and aims to strengthen existing limitations on on-shore facilities that support off-shore fossil fuel drilling.

• Save Our Shores donated $11,854.
• Sempervirens Fund donated $5,000.

Developers and other business

A group of Santa Cruz businesses have funded efforts to support Coonerty’s bid for mayor. Santa Cruz Together, founded in 2018 to oppose the failed rent control proposal Measure M, spent $19,854 on mailers for Coonerty’s campaign. The organization entered 2026 with an existing war chest, but this year three local businesses have made contributions to the fund:

• Green Valley Corporation, an affiliate of developer Swenson Builders ($10,000). 
• S. C. Beach Hotel Partners, LLC., associated with developer Owen Lawlor ($10,000).
• Seaside Company Co., owners of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk ($5,000).

Fred Keeley is the largest individual spender in the Nov. 3 election in Santa Cruz County. (Marcello Hutchinson-Trujillo — Santa Cruz Local file)

Developers have also backed Measure E, the county sales tax.

• GSH Pacific Ave LLC, an affiliate of GPR Ventures pursuing redevelopment of Catalyst nightclub, gave $2,500.
• Redtree Partners LP, which helmed a Westside housing development for UCSC students and staff, raised $2,500.
• Affordable housing developer For the Future Housing donated $1,000.

Those donations were made not to the main campaign committee for Measure E, but to Santa Cruzans for a Safe and Healthy Community, a separate committee established by Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley for fundraising within the City of Santa Cruz. Keeley solicited and secured the donations from the two developers, he said in an interview, to pay for additional pro-Measure E mailers to voters within Santa Cruz.

Fred Keeley

Keeley is the largest individual donor in the election, donating a total of $16,200. That includes $14,000 towards his committee in support of Measure E and smaller donations for Cabrillo trustee candidate Karen Cogswell, PVUSD candidate Goldenkranz and mayoral candidate Coonerty.

The second top individual donor is Nancy Bilicich, who gave $7,000 to her own campaign for Watsonville City Council.

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