2022 Election: Donations pour in to Orange County Congressional races

Rep. Katie Porter raised more money in 2021 than 90% of her fellow House members, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.

Porter, D-Irvine, took in $2.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2021 and $10.5 million last year. With cash rolled over from her last election, that leaves her with a $16.1 million war chest as she looks to a June 7 primary against three GOP challengers in Orange County’s new coastal 47th District.

This week’s fundraising reports are the first since new political district boundaries were finalized in late December. And they offer an early clue at how competitive some Orange County House races might be in 2022, with at least three of six local seats likely to be in play this year.

Porter’s primary challenger is Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach, an attorney and former Assembly member. He entered the CA-47 race Dec. 22 and in nine days, before the close of the year-end filing period, he raised $519,425 in donations.

Another Republican challenger in CA-47 — Brian Burley, R-Huntington Beach, who does I.T. consulting — reported raising $338,759 in 2021, ending the year with $233,728 in cash. But his campaign owes $298,021 including $234,500 he loaned himself.

Amy Phan West, R-Westminster, who runs a rental car company with her husband, raised $151,423 in 2021 for her CA-47 bid and ended the year with $77,403 cash.

Over in the new 40th District, which covers all of eastern Orange County plus Chino Hills in San Bernardino County, Freshman Rep. Young Kim, R-La Habra, took in more than $1.2 million in the last quarter of 2021, giving her $4.3 million raised this cycle as of Dec. 31. She owed $172,409 and had $2.6 million in cash, which her campaign pointed out is one of the highest of any GOP incumbent targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2022. Her new district favors the GOP by 5.6 points.

But while Kim’s primary challenger — Democrat Asif Mahmood, a physician from Bradbury who’s moving to Tustin to run for CA-40 — didn’t enter the race until Jan. 20, and so hasn’t filed any campaign finance reports yet with the FEC, his campaign said he raised $500,000 during his first 11 days in the race.

Two other candidates are challenging Kim from the right: Mission Viejo Councilman Greg Raths, a Republican, and American Nationalist Nick Taurus.

Taurus, of Laguna Hills, has raised $7,431 this cycle largely through donations from one local family. He had $2,549 cash at the end of the year.

Raths, who last year lost to Rep. Katie Porter by seven points, officially entered the race Jan. 4, and has yet to report any fundraising.

In her bid to return to Congress — this time to represent the new 45th District, which is a majority Asian American and centered around Little Saigon — freshman GOP Rep. Michelle Steel raised $808,700 in the last quarter and $3.2 million so far this cycle. The Seal Beach resident owed $164,199 as of Dec. 31 and had close to $1.7 million cash in the bank.

That’s nearly double the cash of her primary challenger, Democrat Jay Chen. The district does favor Democrats by 4.9 points in terms of voter registration.

Chen, a Hacienda Heights resident who owns a real estate firm, raised $32,775 last quarter and $1.4 million last year. He owed $18,376 and had $978,339 in cash as of Dec. 31.

As he goes for a third term representing the 49th District, Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, raised $2 million in 2021 and headed into 2022 with $2.5 million cash. That’s twice as much as any of his three GOP challengers.

Redistricting kept CA-49 largely intact, with the district covering south coastal Orange County and northern San Diego County and favoring Democrats by 1.9 points.

His repeat GOP challenger Brian Maryott, R-San Juan Capistrano, had the next highest total with $1.8 million raised and $1.2 million cash on hand at the end of the year. But that included $1 million the former councilman loaned himself in 2021.

Maryott similarly loaned himself some $500,000 for his 2020 campaign against Levin, didn’t use most of the funds and paid himself back on Election Day, when he lost to Levin by 6.2 points.

Another candidate in CA-49, Oceanside Councilman Christopher Rodriguez, raised $776,146 in 2021, including a $100,000 loan from himself. He had $466,273 cash at the end of the year.

County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, R-Dana Point, entered the CA-49 race at the start of 2022, so she didn’t FEC reports for last year. But she had $238,291 sitting in a state Senate fund as of Dec. 31. She can’t transfer those funds, but her campaign said she’s contacted donors about writing new checks for her Congressional campaign.

In the solidly blue and majority Latino 46th District, centered around Santa Ana and Anaheim, third-term Democratic Rep. Lou Correa is sitting on a comfortable war chest of $1.5 million. Correa raised $603,911 last year, and he had cash left over from his 2020 election, which wasn’t competitive.

This year, Correa is facing a challenge from the left in Mike Ortega, a biomedical engineer and self-proclaimed socialist who’s also from Anaheim. Ortega, who will run as a Democrat, raised $34,590 in 2021. He had $4,593 left in cash after campaign expenses.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Whittier, has an easy fundraising lead over three challengers in the new 38th District, which still includes southeast Los Angeles County and a slice of Orange County, now in La Habra.

Sanchez, a 10-term incumbent, has raised $686,353 so far this cycle. With funds rolled over from previous cycles, she had $1.1 million in cash at the end of 2021.

Her closest competitor in terms of fundraising is Republican Eric Ching, who is Mayor Pro Tem of Walnut. Ching originally was going to primary Kim, in CA-40, but after district lines were redrawn he said he plans to run in CA-38, which favors Democrats by 26 points and is majority Latino.

Ching raised $75,970 in 2021, all from individual donors. That includes $7,400 of his own money. After expenses, he had $35,163 cash Dec. 31.

Democratic challenger Elizabeth Moreira, who lives in Norwalk and works in hospitality management, has raised $9,803 this cycle, including an $1,800 loan from herself. She had $2,021 in cash at the end of the year.

Fundraising for the district now represented by Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, isn’t included in this story because Lowenthal is retiring at the end of this term and redistricting has drawn Orange County out of that seat.

A handful of other candidate have pulled paperwork to run for local seats, but haven’t yet formally filed or reported any fundraising. The deadline to enter the race is March 11.

The next round of campaign finance reports, covering the first quarter of the year, are due April 15.

Source: Orange County Register