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This story originally appeared in Saturday’s Daily Post. If you want the latest in local news, pick up the Post in the mornings at 1,000 Mid-Peninsula locations.
BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
State Assemblyman Kevin Mullin has taken the lead in fundraising over Supervisor David Canepa in the race to replace Rep. Jackie Speier in Congress, according to data turned in to the Federal Election Commission yesterday.
Mullin, who is endorsed by Speier and other Democratic Party leaders, surprisingly fell behind in fundraising to Canepa and Burlingame Councilwoman Emily Beach last year. But so far this year, Mullin has raised nearly three times as much as his top opponents.
Mullin raised $374,888 over the past three months, bringing his total to $620,091.
Canepa raised $128,917 in the first three months of the year, bringing his total to $556,873. Beach is now in third in fundraising. She raised $168,842 in the last three months and has now raised $445,729.
Republican and Half Moon Bay resident Gus Mattammal has brought in $12,955 since the beginning of the year. He’s raised a total of $29,371.
Ballots go out in three weeks
Ballots will be mailed on May 9 for the June 7 primary, and the top two vote getters will move on to the November election.
Mullin’s numbers include $40,000 of his own money that he donated to his campaign. He has received $245,043 from ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s fundraising website. Canepa has raised $70,827 from ActBlue donors, and Beach has raised $233,016.
Both Canepa and Mullin’s campaigns have released internal polls that show themselves in first place.
The three Democratic candidates have similar views on issues related to the economy, climate change and bringing home funding for the district.
The names of the donors to the candidates during this most recent fundraising period weren’t available yesterday.
About the candidates
Canepa has been on the Board of Supervisors for five years and before that was on Daly City’s council. Canepa, currently the board president, has made numerous TV news appearances as the spokesman for the county regarding Covid and other issues over the past year.
Mullin has been in the state Assembly for nearly a decade and has had more than 60 bills signed into law, including a pilot program ran in San Mateo County and three other counties that led to all-mail elections. Mullin is also a former South San Francisco council member and has worked for Speier.
Beach served as a captain in the Army, stationed in Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Texas. She’s worked as a business executive and has worked with nonprofits to raise money for local schools. During the pandemic, she created the Burlingame Collective, which brings stakeholders in town together to figure out how to navigate the pandemic’s issues, such as isolation for seniors and expanding access to a food bank.
Mattammal has never been elected to office. He has an MBA from Yale and a bachelor’s in physics and math from Pomona College. He is a director for Advantage Testing, a tutoring company with an outpost in Palo Alto that offers help to students of any age.
The congressional district covers the southern portion of San Francisco and then stretches down the bayside portion of the Peninsula to East Palo Alto.
Mullin is an opportunity to throw the bums out and to end special-interest, machine politics in California. Who knows why the same voters keep voting for the same people in every election but there are now too many households and too many communities with quite serious problems and the incumbents just aren’t effective addressing these needs. I hope the challengers provide the voters with serious qualifications and policy – not social fantasies and poll-tested promises.