Karina Cervantez Alejo leads Assembly fundraising contest by huge margin.

While Bernie Sanders' fundraising strategy—not taking gifts from the big banks or pharma execs he opposes—worked well in Iowa, money is still the currency of campaigning for political office.

Local candidates for statewide office raised more than half a million dollars collectively last year,  according the latest records filed with the California Secretary of State's office, which were due Monday at 5pm. 

Karina Cervantez Alejo out-fundraised fellow Democrat Anna Caballero by a margin of more than 6:1 in the last campaign finance reporting period, July 1 through Dec. 31, 2015. 

Cervantez Alejo raised a whopping $264,000 last year, compared to Caballero's $19,000. (To put that number in comparison, Jimmy Panetta, who is running for Congress, has raised $251,000 to date.) 

Caballero and Cervantez Alejo are the two Democrats facing off to take the seat of Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, who is terming out and is running for Monterey County Supervisor. (Another Democrat, Gilroy City Councilman Peter Leroe-Muñoz, dropped out of the race.) 

Cervantez Alejo did have months to fundraise before Caballero entered the race, but even in the last five months of 2015, raised $116,000 from dozens of individuals, businesses and political action committees (PACs). 

Her donors include several political campaigns, including gifts of $4,200 from Assemblyman Anthony Rendon's 2016 re-election campaign committee an $1,000 from Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley Thomas re-election campaign committee. Both are Los Angeles-area Democrats.

They also include her husband's committee to run for State Senate in 2018, which gave $4,000. 

It's not uncommon to see cash move from safer seats to contested seats within the same party, bolstering tougher campaigns.

Cervantez Alejo's PAC donors include the American Beverage Association PAC ($1,000), California Building Industry Association PAC ($4,200), California Federation of Teachers ($8,200), California Seed Association PAC ($1,000) and the John Deere PAC ($1,000).

Other givers include several businesses like the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club ($500), Mi Pueblo ($4,200), Pepsico ($1,000) and local businesses like San Benito Heating & Sheet Metal ($200).

Caballero raised a little more than $19,000 from 15 donors, and loaned her own campaign an additional $5,000. 

Caballero has held this Assembly seat before, from 2006-10, and gave it up to run for State Senate against Anthony Cannella (she lost). Due to the old system of term limits, Caballero can serve just one more two-year term in state Assembly, but could then go on to serve for another eight years in the state Senate. 

Two Republicans so far have entered the Assembly fray: Georgia Acosta of Watsonville and John Nevill, retired from a career in health care administration that included stints at  Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, Natividad Medical Center, Mee Memorial and Hazel Hawkins in Hollister.

Nevill is now a sheep rancher near King City.

"I’ve been in public service for over 30 years," he says. "I really enjoy working with the public. And governance is really important to me, because people just aren’t participating anymore."

Neither Nevill nor Acosta have filed campaign finance reports with the state as of Tuesday morning.

In the district next door, Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, is also up for re-election. Stone raised about $126,000 last year. PACs giving to his campaign include the California State Council of Laborers PAC ($8,500), the California Real Estate PAC ($3,000) and the California Refuse Recycling Council South PAC ($1,000). 

Several businesses and trade associations also gave, including Anheuser Busch ($2,000), Deloitte ($1,000), General Motors ($1,000) and Mi Pueblo ($4,200). 

Doug Deitch, who has no party preference, is challenging Stone. Deitch has raised no money and says he intends not to: "I do not accept monetary donations, so I will need a lot of concerned and participatory 29th District residents' support," he writes by email. 

Deitch is a long-time Santa Cruz County water watchdog, and says he's determined to see a solution to the Monterey Peninsula's water shortage, favoring DeepWater Desal's proposed project at Moss Landing.

Deitch has run unsuccessfully for Santa Cruz County supervisor and other public offices. He runs the Santa Cruz nonprofit Monterey Bay Conservancy.

State Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, had briefly mulled a congressional race before opting to seek re-election to his Senate district (which, ironically, includes a larger voter base than the congressional district).  

Palmer Kain, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully against Mark Stone two years ago in the Assembly race, is now challenging Monning for the Senate seat. 

Monning raised a significant sum, $215,000, last year to defend his seat. Kain raised only about $4,000 last year. 

Monning's donors also include businesses, among them AT&T ($5,200), AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals ($2,000), Cannery Row Company ($875), GlaxoSmithKline ($1,750) and Charter Communications ($3,000). 

A number of unions and PACs also gave to Monning's campaign, including the Laborers Local Union No. 270 PAC ($3,000), Northern California District Council of Laborers PAC ($8,500) and Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Political Action Fund ($7,000). 

Several healthcare-related PACs also contributed to Monning, including the California Academy of Family Physicians PAC ($2,000), ANthem Bluz Cruz ($3,500) and the California Association of Health Underwriters PAC ($3,100). 

Among the dozens of individual donors, Jimmy Panetta, who is running for Congress, gave Monning $225 for his re-election campaign.