Campaign Finance · Salinas City Council · Public Record

Who funds Salinas politics?

$1.36M Tracked across the 2024–2025 cycle

Every donor. Every check. Every consultant who cashed one. Pulled from public FPPC filings.

Follow the money → See the council ↓
722 Contributions FPPC Form 460
13 Candidates & Committees Council, PAC, referendum
2 Election Cycles 2024 & 2025

New here? Start with these.

  1. What the words mean A plain-language glossary — PAC, Schedule A, independent expenditure, and more.
  2. Follow the money One picture: who gave, which committee took it in, and what it paid for.
  3. Your ballot cheat sheet Key dates, what’s on the Salinas ballot, and how to vote.

City Council

Campaign finance profiles for the seven members of the Salinas City Council.

On the Ballot in 2026

Four Salinas council seats — plus the U.S. House CA-19 seat that covers the Salinas Valley. Here’s who’s running.

Mayor 3 candidates
  • Dennis Donohue Incumbent
  • Daniel Muñoz Challenger
  • Peter Szalai Challenger
View race →
District 2 1 candidate
  • Tony Barrera Incumbent
  • No declared challengers yet
View race →
District 3 2 candidates
  • Margaret D’Arrigo Incumbent
  • Cary Swensen Challenger
View race →
District 5 2 candidates
  • Andrew Sandoval Incumbent
  • Irma C Lopez Challenger
View race →
All 2026 races →

Follow the Money

Five investigations into who’s funding Salinas politics — and where the money actually goes.

Referendum

Rent Control Fight

$85K raised across both sides

Anti-rent-control raised $53K from 16 donors. Pro raised $32K from 71.

Explore referendum → PACs

Independent Expenditures

$290K across three PACs

Protect Salinas, the Recall Sandoval effort, and Vote to Protect Renters.

Track PACs → Expenditures

Where the Money Went

$1.39M in vendor payments

1,132 transactions. Consultants, mailers, signs, payroll — line by line.

See spending → Donors

Donor Directory

Every donor, searchable

Browse and filter every campaign contributor by name, type, and recipient.

Open directory → Networks

Related Donors

Grouped by entity

Corporate entities and individuals connected through shared employers and filings.

See networks → Timeline

Key Dates

2024 → 2026

Elections, recalls, referendum filings — every event that shaped the cycle.

Open timeline →

What We Found

Three findings from $1.4M in tracked Salinas campaign money. Each one opens a deeper page.

73%

One REIT, almost the whole No side

A single out-of-state apartment company — UDR, Inc. — wrote nearly three quarters of every dollar raised against the Salinas rent-control referendum.

See the referendum → $149K

Same donor. Two PACs. One agenda.

Taylor Fresh Foods wrote $149,000 in checks across two Salinas PACs in 2024 — including a $100,000 pair to Protect Salinas alone.

Track the PACs → 28%

One firm cashed a quarter of every dollar

Across 1,132 vendor invoices, a single consulting firm — operating under three different name spellings — captured more than one in four dollars Salinas campaigns spent.

See spending →