Chakrabarti’s pockets go deep

Chakrabarti has raised ($5.2 million) and spent ($5 million) more than his rivals. Most of that consists of a $4.8 million loan he made to himself. Wiener has raised $3.5 million, chiefly from individual donors, and has spent $898,000.

Chan is struggling more to raise money compared with her rivals. She’s raised $459,000, spent $302,000 and has $156,606 cash on hand — the least among the top candidates. She is hoping that endorsements from the California Teachers Association, National Nurses United, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club and the San Francisco Labor Council and the SEIU propel her into the top two.

And then there is Hurabiell, a former Republican who entered the race shortly before the filing deadline. She quickly started raising money — including loaning herself $100,000 — and now has $402,815 cash on hand, enough to get her message out before the June 2 primary.

Wiener has the most generous donors

Chakrabarti, despite his self-funding, also raised the most money ($359,891) from donors who gave less than $200. Many of those, however, gave far less: 265 people donated $1; 2,240 donated $5 or less; 4,906 donated $10 or less.

Wiener raised ($3,457,209) from individual donors, also a sign of grassroots strength.

Chan received a fraction of that ($416,617) from similar donors. Chakrabarti also has the most donors (9,587), followed by Wiener with 1,946. Wiener has the most donors (212) who have given him the maximum amount ($7,000) allowed by an individual to a campaign.

The money is mostly — but not all — local

The vast majority of Chakrabarti’s donors (66%) are from outside California. In fact, only 7% of them live in San Francisco. Two factors are at play here: First, it’s a sign of the power of the national fundraising network he built by co-founding the Justice Democrats organization in 2017 to recruit progressive candidates to serve in office. The organization endorsed him this month. Second, it is also a sign of how Chakrabarti is largely unknown in the district he’s running in. The California Democratic Party and the San Francisco Democratic Party endorsed Wiener. Campaign filings show that 58% of Wiener’s donors are from San Francisco and only 9% are from outside California. The vast majority (67%) of Chan’s donors are from San Francisco, as are Hurabiell’s (68%).

San Francisco billionaires are involved in the race

Wiener is the only candidate who has received contributions from donors on Forbes’ list of billionaires. He received $7,000 from Chris Larsen, CEO of cryptocurrency company Ripple, $7,000 from Parker Conrad, CEO of finance software company Rippling, and $3,300 from Open AI CEO Sam Altman.

Several city labor unions are rallying around Proposition D, a proposal on San Francisco’s June ballot dubbed the Overpaid CEO Act. It would tax large corporations whose top executives earn more than 100 times the median salary of their workers. It could raise an estimated $200 million to backfill federal cuts, proponents say. Wiener and Hurabiell oppose it, while Chan and Chakrabarti support it. The California Service Employees International Union, with 750,000 members statewide, pulled its endorsement of Wiener this month over his opposition to Prop D.

San Francisco elected officials are also picking sides

Wiener and Chan are the only candidates who have received contributions from elected officials — not surprising since they are the only ones who have served in elected office. Wiener received contributions from San Francisco City College Trustee Heather McCarty ($3,500), San Francisco Supervisors Bilal Mahmood ($3,300) and Raphael Mandelman ($250), San Francisco Board of Education Members Parag Gupta ($1,000) and Phil Kim ($250).

Chan received contributions from former San Francisco Supervisors Aaron Peskin ($3,500) and Dean Preston ($1,000). She also received $350 from San Francisco City College Trustee Susan Solomon.