Democrats Just Outraised Republicans in California’s 10 Hottest Races

Reminder: Money doesn’t equal votes.

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Democrats in 10 closely watched California congressional races just posted eye-popping fundraising numbers, eclipsing their Republican rivals. Altogether, these Democratic candidates raised $28.3 million in the third quarter of 2018, compared to $8.3 million reported by their Republican opponents, including eight incumbents.

Drew Godinich, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, notes that Democrats outraised Republicans in every California district the DCCC has targeted to flip from red to blue. “It’s a barometer of the grassroots enthusiasm in these districts,” he says.

California’s most-closely watched races 

Harley Rouda, the Democrat running against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, pulled in nearly $3.2 million—more than seven times the amount of his opponent. In the 25th District, Katie Hill raised $3.8 million in three months—more than the Democratic and Republican candidates in that district combined raised during the entire 2016 cycle. “Yes, she outraised [Rep.] Steve Knight, and that’s interesting, but this is…a lot,” Godinich says. Even in the Republican-dominated 50th District outside San Diego, Ammar Campa-Najjar pulled in $1.4 million, while embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter reported just $132,000.

Raising all that money is no guarantee of a win, of course. Candidates like Campa-Najjar and Andrew Janz, the 34-year-old Fresno prosecutor hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Devin Nunes in the Central Valley, are running in districts with hefty Republican voter advantages. But their balance sheets suggest they’ll be able to keep up the pressure on their opponents until Election Day.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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