L.A. Mayoral Candidate Villaraigosa Hits $1.8 Million Fundraising Cap

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L.A. mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has raised nearly $1.2 million in the last two weeks, bringing the total raised since the March 8 primary to $1.8 million and outpacing incumbent Mayor James Hahn.


According to a statement from the Villaraigosa campaign Tuesday, the City Councilman and former Assembly Speaker is the first runoff candidate to reach the $1.8 million contribution cap invoked under city ethics rules when he accepted public funds. However, that cap is likely to be lifted because of independent expenditures on behalf of both runoff candidates.


The Hahn campaign has not issued any fundraising updates beyond the required April 2 filing, when the campaign reported raising $408,000. A call to the Hahn campaign seeking updated information was not returned. The next required reporting deadline is May 5.


Villaraigosa campaign spokesman Nathan James said the campaign was not disclosing how much money has been spent since April 2 or how much cash the campaign has on hand. As of April 2, Villaraigosa had $575,000 in cash on hand.


The announcement of this latest fundraising for Villaraigosa caps a dramatic 10 days, during which he won endorsements from basketball superstar and businessman Earvin “Magic” Johnson and mayoral rival Bob Hertzberg and appeared to pull away from Hahn with an 18-point lead in a Los Angeles Times poll.


However, Villaraigosa must still overcome a generally acknowledged poor performance against Hahn in Sunday’s televised mayoral debate.

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Howard Fine
Howard Fine is a 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles Business Journal. He covers stories pertaining to healthcare, biomedicine, energy, engineering, construction, and infrastructure. He has won several awards, including Best Body of Work for a single reporter from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers and Distinguished Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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