In California politics, state-level candidates and political action committees have received $2.3 billion in total contributions between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022. The 10 largest contributors gave more than $103.6 million, or 5 percent of all contributions.
These are the top 10 individual contributors to California state-level candidates and committees in the 2022 election cycle, according to campaign finance reports submitted to the California Secretary of State:
Top 10 California Contributors (1/1/2021 – 12/31/2022)
| Rank | Contributor Name | Total Contributions |
| 1 | Michael Bloomberg | $53,670,424 |
| 2 | Joseph Sanberg | $11,000,000 |
| 3 | John Cox | $9,566,756 |
| 4 | Cari Tuna | $9,500,000 |
| 5 | Reed Hastings | $7,198,900 |
| 6 | Austin Beutner | $3,520,091 |
| 7 | Jim Walton | $2,652,951 |
| 8 | Mark W Heising | $2,509,700 |
| 9 | Patty Quillin | $2,259,700 |
| 10 | Arthur Rock | $1,747,700 |
The list of California contributors in this time period includes more than 4,607 individuals identified by name in the California Secretary of State’s public records.
The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active California committees submitted to the California Secretary of State. Political expenditures that are not controlled by candidates or their campaigns, known as satellite spending, are not included in candidate totals. Federal committees are not required to report to state agencies. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines.
This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.