Palo Alto Council Race Enters Final Stretch: Yudy Deng Leads Fundraising With $182,000 as Two Candidates Split on Housing
PALO ALTO, California — In Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, the city council race has entered its final stretch. The last campaign finance filings before Election Day, reported on October 23, show the contest for three open seats on the seven-member council has become one of the most expensive in recent city history. Among eight candidates, Bryna Chang and Yudy Deng have outraised the field by wide margins.
Mayor Vicki Veenker raised a little over $23,000 in the current filing period (since September 20) from 50 donors, 72% of whom live in Palo Alto, bringing her total for the cycle to just shy of $75,000. Bryna Chang's total is about $20,000 ahead of Veenker's. Yudy Deng leads the field with $182,000 — double Chang's total and tens of thousands more than previous record-holders who barely crossed six figures.
Both Chang and Deng announced at the end of September that they would stop accepting donations. Chang's announcement criticized the number of Deng's donors who live outside Palo Alto; Deng responded that her donations came mostly from family, friends and community members she met through nonprofit outreach across the Bay Area.
The two stand on opposite sides of Palo Alto's fiercest housing debate: Chang, who chairs the Planning and Transportation Commission, favors slow-growth policies and often challenges new developments, while Deng supports streamlining the housing approval process and has been endorsed by the South Bay chapter of YIMBY Action. They are also the only non-incumbent candidates with City Hall experience; Deng has served for the past few years on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
The only other incumbent, Councilmember Ed Lauing, raised about $13,000 this period, with 96% of his donors from Palo Alto, for a $51,000 total. Fundraising drops off sharply after that. On Election Day, November 3, voters will also decide the Cubberley Community Center ballot measure (Measure J), which had raised more than $120,000 as of October 17.
Source: GSM·America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Palo Alto 市政厅。摄影：Tomwsulcer，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Palo Alto City Hall, by Tomwsulcer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
