Dollars and nonsense

Money in D4 supe race is even, but Miley has others means; Tam and Mei have big loan debt; DA Price and recall; two veteran East Bay officials are sitting on a load of cash

Alameda County District 4 supervisorial candidate Jennifer Esteen addressing the Working Families Party on Monday night.

ELECTION 2024

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS - DISTRICT 4

—PULSE CHECK—Jennifer Esteen’s campaign to unseat Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley raised $57,125 during the first six months of this year, according to a finance report released on Tuesday. (A day late. Shame. Shame.)

—Esteen, a Registered Nurse, nearly matched the incumbent’s admittedly dismal fundraising numbers.

—The paltry finance reports are surprising with just seven months until voters in the Castro Valley, East Oakland, and Pleasanton district cast a ballot in the March Primary.

—Keep in mind, a candidate for a county office needs to gain a simple majority of the vote in the primary in order to win the race outright. If not, the top two candidates advance to a runoff in November 2024.

—The headline here is that Esteen’s cash on hand is nearly double Miley’s $21,000, as of June 30.

—The subheadline is Esteen’s fundraising was padded with over $10,000 in contributions transferred from her campaign last year for the 20th Assembly District.

—Esteen’s potential for ramping up fundraising from progressives and unions, as well as delivering a compelling generational message to District 4 voters, are factors that Miley must begin to take more seriously.

District 4

JENNIFER ESTEEN—Jan. 1-June 30

• Cash IN $57,125

• Cash OUT $14,147

• Loans/Debts $4,000

• Cash on Hand $46,978

*NATE MILEY—Jan. 1-June 30

• Cash IN $64,264

• Cash OUT $48,371

• Loans/Debts $27,142

• Cash on Hand $21,551

—MONEY GROWS ON TREES—Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, however, has all the benefits of the incumbency, including well-cultivated connections in the community.

—Enter Preserving Agriculture in Alameda County, an independent expenditure committee, backed by Chuck Moore, one of Miley’s top allies and one of his appointees to the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council, the unincorporated area’s quasi-governmental body.

—The IE has dabbled in previous Miley campaigns, and supported re-election efforts for former Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. (O’Malley contributed $206 to the IE last April.)

—Historically, the IE has been deployed to go negative against opponents of its favored candidate, but not always. It was used in the June 2022 primary to highlight some high-profile Democrats who endorsed Ahern, a Republican..

—Preserving Agriculture in Alameda County raised nearly $16,000 through the mid-year filing period. The IE contributed $2,500 to appointed District 2 Alameda County Supervisor Elisa Marquez in June.

MORE INSIDE:

• Campaign Finance Notes: Supervisor not up for re-election next year outraised Miley

• Tam and Mei need to refinance their loans

• DA Pamela Price’s 2028 campaign hasn’t ramped up efforts with recall looming

• How much $$ did the Price recall committee raise? We don’t know.

• How well did possible 2026 guv opponents—Bonta and Kounalakis—fundraise this year?

• Nancy Skinner and Bill Lockyer are sitting on heap of cash