Track the money flowing into the Los Angeles sheriff’s race

October 12, 2022

The Los Angeles County sheriff’s race between incumbent Alex Villanueva and retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna has resulted in $4.2 million in campaign donations. Seventy percent of that has gone to committees supporting Villanueva.

$2.9 million

contributed to
Alex Villanueva

$1.3 million

contributed to
Robert Luna

What is the Sheriff’s Department and what does it cover?

A map of Los Angeles County that shows areas where the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department patrols the area. This area includes the northernmost areas of the County, along with a patchwork of areas in East and South L.A. Lancaster, Palmdale, Santa Clarita, Malibu, East Los Angeles, Walnut, Compton, and Avalon are in this jurisdiction.

Sheriff’s Department patrol areas in L.A. County

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

East Los Angeles

Malibu

Walnut

Compton

Avalon

Sheriff’s Department patrol areas in L.A. County

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

East Los Angeles

Malibu

Walnut

Compton

Avalon

Sheriff’s Department patrol areas in L.A. County

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

East Los Angeles

Malibu

Walnut

Compton

Avalon

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department provides law enforcement services for unincorporated parts of the county, and 42 out of 88 cities in the county contract their law enforcement services out to the department.

Who are the candidates?

Incumbent Sheriff Alex Villanueva was elected in 2018 after unseating Sheriff Jim McDonnell, making him the first to oust an incumbent sheriff in more than a century.

Luna worked for the Long Beach Police Department for 36 years, the last seven as chief.

A Times analysis of California Department of Justice data found that violent crime went down 6% overall in Long Beach between 2015-21, the full years of Luna’s term as chief. In L.A. County Sheriff’s Department districts, violent crime rose by 6.7% in the same period. Across California, violent crime rose 10% in those years.

Who is supporting Villanueva?

Villanueva has raised more than double the amount of money than Luna. Eighty percent of his donations come from individual donors who gave an average of nearly $740 each. A Times investigation found that dozens of Villanueva’s donors received expedited gun permits and that some of those donors had criminal histories.

Villanueva’s support from labor unions increased in this election cycle. His campaign manager, Javier Gonzalez, has a background in labor organizing, including organizing for the Service Employees International Union and sitting on the board of the Orange County Labor Council Executive Committee. This cycle, labor unions have donated $13,500, up from $8,750 in 2018. In contrast, Luna’s committee donations have come from pro-business organizations such as the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and Bizpac.

The Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs has donated $1,500 to Villanueva this year. In the past, the association has jumped into the race late. In 2018, it donated more than $1 million to Villanueva’s campaign in the week before polls closed.

$100K

A map of Los Angeles County that shows the amount donated to Alex Villanueva’s campaign per ZIP Code. The biggest sheriff contracts are in the northern part of the county, and the area around Palmdale was one of the highest donating ZIP Codes. Beverly Hills ZIP Code 90210 donated the most to Villanueva’s campaign, raising nearly $100,000. Villanueva also raised a lot of money in West L.A. and near Malibu.

The biggest sheriff contracts are in the northern part of L.A. County

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

Beverly Hills

Malibu

ZIP Code 90210 gave the most to Villanueva’s campaign, nearly $100,000

Norwalk

Rolling Hills

Avalon

20 mi

The biggest sheriff contracts are in the northern part of L.A. County

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

Beverly Hills

Malibu

ZIP Code 90210 gave the most to Villanueva’s campaign, nearly $100,000

Norwalk

Avalon

Rolling Hills

20 mi

The biggest sheriff contracts are in the northern part of L.A. County

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

Beverly Hills

Malibu

ZIP Code 90210 gave the most to Villanueva’s campaign, nearly $100,000

Norwalk

Rolling Hills

Avalon

20 mi

What communities are donating to Villanueva?

At least half of Villanueva’s donations – approximately $1.6 million – have come from communities that contract law enforcement services from the Sheriff’s Department. Luna has raised about $325,000 from communities contracted with the department.

Elected officials in the northern part of the county, which has the largest contracts with the Sheriff’s Department, have donated to Villanueva. The son of Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, Rutger Parris, donated to the sheriff from his community college campaign account. Other Lancaster officials who have donated to Villanueva from campaign accounts include: Vice Mayor Marvin Crist and City Councilmembers Ken Mann and Raj Malhi. In sheriff’s contract cities, elected officials, including city council members, are influential in the sheriff contracting process.

Who is supporting Luna?

Luna has garnered donations by powerful Angelenos, though he has raised only half of the money as Villanueva. These include donations from county Supervisor Hilda Solis and other politicians, Hollywood executives and A-list celebrities.

Most of Luna’s donors have given to his candidate-controlled committee, which is a campaign account that is subject to campaign donation limits and is directly controlled by the candidate. The average donation to this account is about $680. However, nearly half of Luna’s total funds has been raised through his primarily formed committee, which is not subject to the race’s $1,500 contribution limit and cannot communicate with the candidate or his campaign.

Primarily formed committees can produce advertisements on behalf of the candidate they are supporting. Two donations to his primarily formed committees are responsible for nearly half of Luna’s total funds.

Andrew Hauptman, who runs a private investment fund called Andell Inc., donated $100,000. Recently, Hauptman also donated $100,000 to stop the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Katzenberg Family Trust donated half a million dollars. The venture capitalist and Dreamworks co-founder’s family foundation donated in the past to Hilda Solis when she ran for Los Angeles County supervisor and George Gascón when he ran for Los Angeles County district attorney. This election, Jeffery Katzenberg donated $600,000 to support L.A. mayoral candidate Karen Bass. At the state level, the Katzenbergs have donated to Kamala Harris’ Senate campaign and the No to Recall Gov. Newsom Campaign. Netflix and Disney executives and the president of Paramount, Courtney Armstrong, also donated to Luna.

A-listers Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, Jon Hamm, Ted Danson and Jane Fonda have also contributed to Luna’s main candidate committee.

Luna has also received monetary support from local elected officials such as Reps. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro), Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier) and state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge).

$530K

A map of Los Angeles County that shows the amount donated to Robert Luna’s campaign per ZIP Code. The Katzenberg Family Trust is located in West L.A. and donated $500,000 to Luna’s campaign. Long Beach ZIP Codes also showed a lot of donations to Luna’s campaign. ZIP Codes in the northern and eastern parts of L.A. County often raised little to nothing at all towards Luna’s campaign.

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

San Dimas

Beverly Hills

Malibu

The Katzenberg Family Trust donated $500,000

Avalon

20 mi

Long Beach

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

San Dimas

Beverly Hills

Malibu

The Katzenberg Family Trust donated $500,000

Avalon

20 mi

Long Beach

Lancaster

Palmdale

Santa Clarita

San Dimas

Malibu

Beverly Hills

The Katzenberg Family Trust donated $500,000

Long Beach

Avalon

20 mi

What communities are donating to Luna?

Like Villanueva, the vast majority of Luna’s donors call Los Angeles County home. He has received 60% of his total donations – about $800,000 – from the cities of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Only a quarter of his donations have come from communities contracted with the Sheriff’s Department.

Long Beach, where Luna served as police chief, has supported Luna’s candidacy. The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and Arlene and Mike Walter, namesakes of the Cal State Long Beach Walter Pyramid, sponsored Luna’s primarily formed committee by providing either 80% of the funds to the committee or providing administrative functions for the committee.

Many other Long Beach officials, including the mayor, have donated to the Luna campaign, including Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and state Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) and state Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach).

Additional money affecting the race

In August, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted to place Measure A, which would give the board the ability to fire the sheriff with a supermajority vote, on the November ballot. A “yes” vote supporting Measure A would give the board the ability to fire the sheriff and a “no” vote would maintain the status quo. The “yes” campaign has raised over $200,000 from the ACLU and the Fairness Project, a social welfare nonprofit which advocates for ballot measures around the country. The “Yes on A” website says the measure is necessary to “protect the public from sheriffs who break the law,” and adds that Villanueva has disobeyed court orders and sanctioned gang violence.

About this story

Data on donations received by candidates as of Sept. 24, 2022.

Data from this page are from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office. The raw data was processed by Los Angeles Times journalists Katie Licari and Aida Ylanan. The records came from two sources. The candidate controlled information, which the candidate directly has access to and are subject to contribution limits, was pulled from the TRACCER database and the primarily formed information, which are not subject to contribution limits and cannot coordinate with candidates, came from the L. A. County Register-Recorder/County Clerk.

Donation totals include donations of $100 or less. ZIP Code analysis and average donations exclude small donations because the county does not include detailed information on donations of less than $100.

Times staff writers Alene Tchekmedyian, Connor Sheets and Iris Lee contributed to this report. This piece was edited by Hanna Sender, Sean Greene and Iris Lee, and copy edited by Ruthanne Salido and Richard Nelson. Mary Kate Metivier planned the promotion and engagement. Share image by Lorena Iñiguez Elebee.