Money in politics can have an outsized impact on who runs for office and who wins, from the state and federal level down to local contests. The city of San Jose, California is no exception. MapLight examined campaign funding in the aftermath of the most expensive election in the history of San Jose, in 2022.
Click here to read the full report: Campaign Funding in Silicon Valley: Spotlight on San Jose
Among many key findings, our report reveals:
Campaign contributions more than tripled from 2018 to 2022. Total contributions were $1,901,028 in 2018, but rose to $7,021,227 in 2022.
Most donations came from high-dollar contributors. People giving $500 or more contributed 81% of all funds received by candidates.
Nearly half of all money came from non-residents. Donors who do not live in San Jose accounted for 48% of all contributions to candidates in the 2022 election cycle. Outside contributions still made up a significant portion of campaign funding.
Donors from affluent neighborhoods tended to give more money to candidates. Contributions from more affluent zip codes were higher, on average, than contributions from lower income zip codes.
Contributions from interest groups were a significant portion of the total contributions. The share of total contributions from companies, political committees, and other organizations was 16% in 2022.
To learn more, read the full report here.
This report was made possible with support from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.