What Early Money Tells Us About California's 2026 Governor Race

Now that we have early fundraising numbers for all the major Democratic gubernatorial candidates, we can use their donation patterns to reveal key insights about their potential strengths and weaknesses heading into what promises to be one of California's most competitive primaries in decades.

The geographic distribution of contributions, donor base sizes, and average contribution amounts tell a story that goes far beyond simple dollar totals. They reveal which candidates have built sustainable grassroots operations, who is relying on wealthy benefactors, and where each campaign sees its path to victory across California's diverse electorate.

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Porter's Congressional Profile Built National Donor Network

Katie Porter was able to build up her donor base over time as she gained notoriety in Congress during Trump's first term. She has established not only a national donor database, but a large donor base as well. While these are smaller donors, they can be tapped into multiple times throughout a campaign. The downside of a small donor base is that contributions are smaller, but the upside is that they typically indicate higher name recognition, which is borne out in early polling for the governor's race where Porter typically holds a slight lead among other Democrats. While the analysis below is only able to look at donors who contributed more than $100, Porter announced she has received donations from more than 33,000 people.

Cloobeck Tests the Self-Funding Strategy

Stephen Cloobeck is testing the self-funding theory, which has at times worked in California (like Eleni Kounalakis in her first run for Lieutenant Governor), but sometimes has not (Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner). Not only did he write large checks to himself in the first report, but he has since brought in another $10 million from his own funds. However, he clearly hasn't yet done the work to build a more sustainable and broad donor base of his own.

Atkins Leverages Long Tenure in Elected Office

Toni Atkins has been able to leverage her long tenure as an elected official—first locally in San Diego, then in the Assembly, and finally rising to Senate Pro Tem. This is borne out by her large overall number of donors, and the fact that her two largest counties for money are San Diego and Sacramento County, reflecting her voter base (San Diego) and where she likely leveraged her role in leadership to raise funds from Sacramento interests.

Villaraigosa's LA County Base Offers Advantages and Challenges

Antonio Villaraigosa has raised money primarily from LA County, making it clear where his base is. While LA County is definitely a good base to have in terms of name recognition—it's the second largest media market in the country and accounts for 35-40% of the population of the state—he may not have grown much outside of it. He also has to share that territory with Xavier Becerra, who served as a congressman in the area, as well as Katie Porter to a certain extent, who is Orange County-based but falls into the same media market.

Kounalakis Brings Multiple Financial Resources

Eleni Kounalakis has raised a healthy amount into her own Governor account, but also has a decent amount in her Lieutenant Governor account. In addition, in her first race for Lieutenant Governor, she benefited from significant outside spending, which may be a factor again in this race.

Important Caveats About This Analysis

Several important limitations should be noted about the following detailed fundraising breakdown:

1. Donation thresholds: These analyses include only donors who contributed more than $100 in aggregate, as smaller contributions are not required to be itemized in campaign finance reports.
2. Early snapshot: All data reflects fundraising only through June 30, 2025, representing the early stages of what will be a long campaign cycle with many potential shifts ahead.
3. Committee limitations: While some candidates maintain multiple political committees that could potentially support their gubernatorial ambitions, this analysis focuses exclusively on each candidate's official 2026 governor committee.

With these caveats in mind, the geographic and demographic patterns in early fundraising offer valuable insights into how each campaign views its path to victory in California's complex political landscape.

Democratic Governor 2026: Geographic Fundraising Analysis

Analysis of geographic distribution and donor patterns for Democratic candidates in the June 2026 California Governor primary election.