Governor hopefuls Newsom, Chiang raise millions for 2018 race

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has been raising money for more than a year and has $8.6 million in cash between two campaign accounts — including $1.6 million raised between Jan. 1 and June 30 — but a competing candidate is proving to be a strong fundraiser as well.

Campaign finance reports released Monday show that state Treasurer John Chiang raised $2.3 million in the seven weeks of his campaign that were covered by the filing.

“Money doesn’t always win, but in a race like this when there are potentially half a dozen or more candidates, someone would like to jump ahead to give others a reason to say, ‘Well, maybe I will consider something else,’” said Larry Gerston, professor emeritus of political science at San Jose State University.

In the contentious San Jose state Senate race, incumbent Jim Beall has been spending big against his rival, Assemblywoman Nora Campos.

In the mad dash to qualify Gov. Jerry Brown’s ballot measure on prison sentencing reform for the fall ballot, the campaign supporting Prop. 57 spent nearly $5 million on signature gathering this year, according to Monday’s filings.

The ballot measure would require the state Legislature to wait 72 hours after a bill is made public before voting on it and mandate that videos of public hearings be put on the Internet within 24 hours.

A ballot measure to extend taxes on the wealthy to fund education has raised $18 million so far this year.