If campaign contributions were votes, incumbent District Attorney Michael Hestrin will be easily re-elected over challenger Lara Gressley. But dollars are not votes and voters will await the results of the June 5 election.
Hestrin has slightly more than $200,000 in cash available until election day and more than a month to raise more money. As the incumbent, planning to run for re-election, Hestrin has received contributions almost from the moment of taking office.
Just in 2017, he raised $135,000, which he doubled in just the first four months of 2018. At the beginning of the year, his cash balance was $160,000, to which he added another 25 percent of $40,000.
Hestrin’s biggest contributors have been county employee associations. The Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Association has sent more than $26,000 to him, while the Riverside Sheriff’s Association, composed of sheriff’s deputies, has contributed nearly $75,000.
Since July, he has received seven contributions of $5,000 and 10 greater than $1,000. Last year, he even received $5,000 from the Criminal Defense Lawyers in Riverside.
Gressley, who opened her campaign in January, has received one $10,000 contribution, four of them greater than $2,000 and seven donations greater than $1,000. About 50 individuals have made a donation to her campaign.
