Gov. Tim Walz to Make Unusual October Fundraising Run from San Diego to Sacramento

More fundraising stops in California by Minnesota Governor and Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz were announced on Friday, with stops next week including San Diego, Montecito, Los Angeles and Sacramento.

Early fall fundraising stops during presidential election years is nothing new in California. As the state has well over 1 million millionaires, with Republicans and Democrats boasting many deep-pocketed donors, California has long been a coffer refueling stop for candidates from both parties despite being a virtual lock for Democrats. Last month, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald  Trump went through major donor fundraising events in the state. Trump aimed for his  Orange County, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley donors during his pass through, while Harris went for her rich Bay Area and Hollywood donors.

In most years, candidates tend to focus more on swing states and generally leave California alone. However, with the race being extremely close with 538 currently giving even odds to who wins, both campaigns have been pouring even more money into outreach, campaign events, advertising, promotions, and other high cost endeavors. As a result, fundraising events for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates are being planned in California well into October as California events are often high-raising affairs, with the added bonus of boosting local House candidates also currently in tight races.

On Friday, the Harris/Walz campaign put in even more fundraising events for Governor Walz because of how close nationwide and swing state polls still are. Rather than visit swing states, Walz is expected to fundraise in San Diego, Montecito, and Los Angeles on Sunday, fly up to Washington state on Monday for an event, before coming back down to Sacramento on Tuesday.

While the Harris campaign had more than the Trump campaign last month, with Harris/Walz having $404 million in funds compared to the Trump/Vance warchest of $295 million, the close race has been rapidly depleting funds. Worse yet for the Harris/Walz campaign, the Trump campaign has slowly closed the gap since last month, with aggregate polling showing Harris’ lead going down from 3.2 points ahead to only 2.6 points ahead. Many Democrats fear a repeat of 2000 or 2016 where they win the popular vote but lose based on electoral votes. More campaign money is thus needed to fuel close swing state campaigns, necessitating more California fundraising.

October fundraising in CA

“If you are still fundraising out in California this late into the campaign this much, something is going wrong,” explained Los Angeles fundraising coordinator Brittany Soto to the Globe on Friday. “An event here and there is fine, especially if there is a local candidate who needs that extra boost. But this many fundraising events? They obviously need the money, really underscoring just how close the race is.

“A good plan would be to, if they really needed to, go to Nevada or Arizona first, drum up support in those close states, then hit California under guise of wanting to, say, help a Congressional candidate, but then also walk away with a nice amount in donations. But Walz here isn’t being that subtle. All these California events, plus the Washington ones, is showing that they need the money.

“I wouldn’t expect any late October visits unless a local candidate really needs help or it is a local or family thing, like with Harris in San Francisco. But yeah, Walz coming out in October like this just for money out of a swing state. Eek.”

It is currently unknown how many more fundraising events will come to California the rest of the election year.