Nov. 8, Election Day 2022, the races for governor, attorney general, congressman, state Assembly and Senate and seven propositions all being decided while this paper goes to press that day. We may be aware that the advocates and opponents of the sports betting propositions have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to gain their approval.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign for reelection, only one year after an attempted re-call, is costing more than $14.5 million. Alex Padilla, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate after Kamala Harris assumed the vice presidency, is running for a full-term. His campaign has collected $11.8 million and spent $4.2 million through Oct. 19.

So, what could congressional or state legislative races cost? Well, locally, two races are already in the millions for both candidates.

Will Rollins, the Democrat, is challenging a 30-year veteran Congressman Ken Calvert for the newly designed District 41.

From Jan. 1, 2022, through Oct. 19, both Rollins and Calvert have raised slightly less than $3.4 million each. Calvert has spent $3 million on his reelection effort and Rollins has expended $2.6 million to try to unseat him.

Nearly $2.3 million of Rollins’s contributions have come from individuals compared to $1.9 million of Calvert’s. Calvert has received nearly $1 million from political committees and Rollins has received about $250,000 from groups.

For the remaining three weeks, both had about $750,000 cash available for ads and mailers. This would not include other contributions during this period.

And the new state Assembly District 47 race is highly competitive and expensive. Democrat Christy Holstege and Republican Greg Wallis are spending millions to represent the desert cities and the Hill.

Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 22, Holstege received about $2.3 million in contributions, while Wallis received about $1.6 million. Most of the donations (about half for both candidates) came since July 1.

During that same period, Holstege’s expenses totaled $2.25 million. Wallis has spent $1.6 million to defeat her. That left her cash total on Oct. 22 at $210,000 while Wallis had $145,000.

Since Oct. 22, Holstege’s supporters have given another $460,000. Her contributions at this point are mainly from Democratic Party organizations, The state party apparatus has sent nearly $240,000 and local Democratic groups from Marin, Mendocino and San Luis Obispo counties gave her $125,000. Most the remainder was sent from political action committees and other Democratic candidates.

In the same period, Wallis’s campaign has garnered about $240,000 including $90,000 from the Tulare County Republican Central Committee, $76,000 from the state Republican Party and about $20,000 from the Sacramento and Orange counties Republican organizations.

In the other local Assembly race, Democratic incumbent Eduardo Garcia’s campaign chest significantly exceeds the size of Ian Week, his Republican opponent’s total.

In the first 10 months of 2022, Garcia has received nearly $660,000; whereas donations to Week’s campaign totaled $125,000, less than a quarter of the gifts to Garcia. Even as the election approached, contributions to Garcia, $150,000, far outstripped Week’s $12,500.

Since Oct. 22, Garcia has received another $62,000. These donations have come from private corporations, such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Eastman Chemical, Golden State Water Company, Tenet Health and Uber, as well as individuals and the United Nurses Association of California.

Garcia has used his campaign chest to donate more than $225,000 to candidates in other races. This includes $30,000 to the state Democratic Party and another $18,000 to local Democratic groups. His donations to other candidates ranged from Assembly and Senate races to local school districts, recreation districts, city councils, a mayoralty race and a Superior Court judge.

And for the final three weeks, Garcia had more than $450,000 for late expenditures and Weeks had $25,000 for last minute challenges of Garcia.

The state Senate race, District 32, between Republican Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto and Democrat Brian Nash, is similar except that the money is flowing to the Republican in this race.

Since Jan. 1, his contributions have totaled slightly more than $325,000. The Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance website has no data for Nash. However, on May 27, prior to the primary, he reported $330 in campaign contributions to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. And in an email, he said he had reported a $2,000 contribution from CADEM in late July to the Registrar’s Office.

Seyarto’s expenditures have been about $180,000 of which nearly $60,000 have been contributions to other candidates or to the state Republican Party and another $55,000 for campaign consultants.