In the race to fill two Santa Clarita City Council seats in November, incumbent Mayor Cameron Symth and candidates Jason Gibbs and Kelvin Driscoll topped the fundraising charts, raising more than $54,500 altogether over the past two months amid the pandemic, campaign filings showed.
The latest campaign finance filings showed figures for six of the nine candidates for periods July 1 through Sept. 19, as well as total contributions since Jan. 1, according to reports released by the city of Santa Clarita.
Three candidates — Selina Thomas, Douglas Frasier and Kenneth Dean — have pending candidate IDs, and have each only filed a Form 470, an annual filing used by candidates who may not have a controlled committee and who do not anticipate receiving or spending $2,000 or more during the calendar year, meaning reportings of contributions and expenditures are not required by law, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.
For the third quarter, Smyth led with a total of $22,000, half of which stemmed from addresses registered within the city, and the rest from other cities across California. Just behind were Gibbs and Driscoll, who raised $15,900 and $16,400, respectively. Funds for the two latter candidates were received from multiple states.
A review of filings since January showed that Gibbs led in fundraising with a total of $36,600, after a $1,000 loan to himself. Smyth followed at $32,000, which included a $10,000 loan he made to his campaign.
Gibbs reported expenditures of $26,200 for the quarter, as well as debt of $1,000 and an ending cash balance of $27,000. Smyth reported $8,000 in expenditures, debt of $10,000 from his loan and a cash-on-hand total of $24,000. Driscoll reported $13,800 in expenditures, debt of $1,800 and cash-on-hand of $3,900.
Here’s a breakdown of the remaining candidates’ fundraising totals for the quarter:
- Aakash Ahuja: $9,000 total contributions received, $4,300 in expenditures, $9,666 cash-on-hand and no debt.
- Timben Boydston: $3,500 total contributions, $3,144 in expenditures, $1,000 cash-on-hand and $8,100 in debt.
- Chris Werthe: $2,800 total contributions, $5,700 in expenditures, $2,800 cash-on-hand and no debt.
