Follow the money.
What Salinas committees reported for 2026, then five investigations into who funded Salinas politics in 2024–2025 — and where that money went. Pulled from public FPPC Form 460 filings, organized by story.
2026 Money
2026 Filings
Data as of 2026-09-19. Figures cover campaign statements for periods through that date; coverage differs by committee.
What Salinas committees reported on their 2026 full statements. Each measure is separate: none is added to another, and nothing is added across committees.
| Committee | Statement coverage | Monetary contributions | Payments | Ending cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protect Salinas Residents 2026- Yes on Measure HID 1484184 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $467,950 | Payments $253,772 | Ending cash $253,266 |
| Irma C. Lopez for Salinas City Council 2026ID 1488486 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $80,047 | Payments $68,834 | Ending cash $11,213 |
| Donohue for Mayor 2026ID 1492496 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $75,448 | Payments $69,811 | Ending cash $5,637 |
| Committee to Re-Elect Margaret D'Arrigo for Salinas City Council - District 3 - 2026ID 1478897 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $67,699 | Payments $69,013 | Ending cash $2,417 |
| Vote to Protect Salinas Renters 2026ID 1485691 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $33,165 | Payments $21,851 | Ending cash $11,768 |
| Sandoval for Salinas City Council District 5 2026ID 1471247 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $16,538 | Payments $9,029 | Ending cash $8,082 |
| Daniel Munoz for Salinas Mayor 2026ID 1490519 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $10,444 | Payments $7,273 | Ending cash $3,271 |
| Swensen for City Council District 3 2026ID 1490549 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $8,300 | Payments $2,288 | Ending cash $6,512 |
| Committee to Elect Aurelio Salazar, Jr. to Salinas City Council District 6, 2024ID 1469600 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30 | Monetary contributions $6,000 | Payments $0 | Ending cash $6,027 |
| Keep Salinas Strong and Safe: Committee to Renew Measure GID 1496449 | 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $5,900 | Payments $0 | Ending cash $5,900 |
| Szalai for Salinas Mayor 2026ID 1488922 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $5,546 | Payments $18,859 | Ending cash $4,265 |
| Donohue for Mayor 2024ID 1469045 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30 | Monetary contributions $1,400 | Payments $883 | Ending cash $0 |
| Jose Luis Barajas Recall Committee 2026ID 1490552 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19 | Monetary contributions $1,390 | Payments $1,354 | Ending cash $136 |
| CITIZENS SUPPORTING THE RECALL OF ANDREW SANDOVALID 1475742 | 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30 | Monetary contributions $0 | Payments $0 | Ending cash $0 |
Loans, in-kind support, itemized unpaid bills, outstanding debt and later reported receipts are separate measures that are not shown in this table. Each committee’s page lists them.
Some committees carry an earlier election year in their name but reported activity in 2026; the coverage dates show the period.
No 2026 full statement
These committees have no 2026 full statement in the City’s exports, so their 2026 figures are unavailable, not zero.
- Barajas for Salinas City Council 2024 ID 1468732 Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero)
- Margaret D'Arrigo for Salinas City Council - District 3 - 2024 ID 1469635 Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero)
- Protect Salinas ID 1470558 Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero)
- Protect Salinas Renters 2026 to Support Referendum of an Ordinance Repealing Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections ID 1481533 Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero)
- National Apartment Association ID SLNS-1130 Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero)
Full 2026 results → Open the explorer → By candidate → 2026 Money overview →
2024–2025 history
2024–2025 investigations
Five investigations into who funded Salinas politics in the 2024–2025 cycle, and where that money went. They use this site’s earlier snapshot of filings, through May 17, 2026, which is a separate dataset from the 2026 filings above.
The whole picture
Included Schedule A contributions and Schedule E expenditures for the sitting council committees in this snapshot, in one view: the filing record, the committee, and the reported spending category. Hover, tap, or Tab to a band to follow the project’s aggregation.
Project view: agriculture, real estate, labor, and individual classifications enter from the left; council committees sit in the middle; project-grouped spending categories leave on the right.
Money in from FPPC ; money out from . Industry and spending categories are Transparent Salinas classifications based on names, disclosed employers, and expenditure codes. They are not official filing fields and can be incomplete or wrong. How we categorize →
Referendum Committee Financing
Two committees appear in the snapshot. The committee this project labels as supporting repeal raised more, from about one quarter as many filing-name groups; those labels are editorial context, not endorsements.
Independent Expenditure PACs
Three independent committees raised $290,800 to influence Salinas elections from outside any candidate’s campaign.
Where the Money Went
$1.39M moved through eight committee datasets to vendors, consultants, mail houses, and payroll.
The Donor Directory
Search contributions to Salinas council campaigns across 408 filing-name groups. These are filing-record groupings, not verified unique people or organizations.
Directory methodology: records are grouped by exact normalized filing name, entity type, and city. A group is not a verified identity; spelling or location differences can split one donor, while shared filing details can group different parties. See methodology and corrections.
Editorial Donor Groupings
Project editors group filing records using name variants, disclosed employer or officer fields, and documented corporate relationships where available. The groups do not verify identity, family relationship, coordination, or common control.
How we cover this
Transaction tables and finance totals in the 2024–2025 investigations on this page are derived from the included FPPC Form 460 Schedule A and E exports from the City’s NetFile portal. Within this dated snapshot, the project selects the latest matched amended row available. Headings, categories, groupings, comparisons, and “what to notice” text are Transparent Salinas editorial context, not filing fields; consult the original filings and methodology before drawing conclusions.
The 2026 filings section at the top of this page comes from a separate dataset. Its sources and method are on the 2026 Money method page.