Modesto mayoral candidates raise money for runoff election. Who’s giving?
Doug Ridenour and Sue Zwahlen together have raised more than $290,000 in their campaigns to become Modesto’s next mayor.
The two face each other in a runoff election after Zwahlen finished first and Ridenour second among eight candidates in the Nov. 3 election. The election will be decided in a runoff because no candidate received a majority of the vote. Zwahlen received 23.8 percent; Ridenour received 19.4 percent.
Like previous runoff elections, this one is being conducted by mail. Ballots were mailed Jan. 4, and voting ends Tuesday.
Zwahlen, 66, is a retired emergency room registered nurse and served on the Modesto City Schools board from 2009 to 2017. Ridenour, 69, is a retired Modesto police sergeant and just finished his first term as a city councilman. He ran for mayor rather than seek re-election.
Zwahlen has reported raising more than $164,000 since she entered the mayor’s race in July. That includes $30,000 that she and her husband have loaned to her campaign.
The total Zwahlen has raised includes the $40,463 that she reported in her latest campaign finance form filed with the city. The form covers Dec. 20 through Jan. 16. Since then, Zwahlen has reported receiving $1,000 each from former Mayor Garrad Marsh and the California Nurses Association political action committee.
Ridenour has reported raising more than $126,000 since he entered the mayor’s race in 2019. That includes the $14,797 he reported raising in his latest campaign finance form for Dec. 20 through Jan. 16.
Support from local GOP, Democrats
Since then, he has reported receiving $10,000 from Modesto-based MTC Distributing — which provides products to convenience stores, drug stores, liquor stores and mom-and-pop grocers — and $2,100 from the Modesto Chamber of Commerce.
The race is nonpartisan, but that does not mean party affiliations don’t play a role. Ridenour is a Republican, and Zwahlen is a Democrat, and both have received partisan support.
For instance, Ridenour has reported receiving $400 from Central Valley Impact Republicans, $500 from a political campaign of former Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham and $1,000 from a political campaign of former Republican state Sen. Anthony Cannella.
Zwahlen has reported receiving $2,000 from Democratic U.S. Rep. Josh Harder’s congressional campaign, $15,000 from the Stanislaus County Democratic Committee and $1,181 from the Modesto Progressive Democratic Club.
She also has reported receiving $1,000 from former Modesto City Schools board member Steve Grenbeaux, $2,500 from Modesto entrepreneur Dan Costa and $10,000 from companies associated with Bill Lyons, the Wood Colony landowner, rancher and former agriculture secretary under Gov. Gray Davis.
Police union gives $2,500 to Ridenour
Zwahlen also has received $1,000 from E.&J. Gallo Winery attorney Timothy Byrd, $149 from Gallo Center for the Arts CEO Lynn Dickerson, $275 from Enochs High School teacher Dave Menshew, $500 from the SEIU United Healthcare Workers and $3,000 in monetary and nonmonetary contributions from the North Valley Labor Federation.
Ridenour has reported receiving $2,500 from the Modesto Police Officers Association, $2,000 from Datapath, the Modesto high-tech firm, $500 from retired Chamber of Commerce President-CEO Cecil Russell, $2,000 from PMZ Real Estate President-CEO Mike Zagaris and $1,000 from Memorial Medical Center CEO Gino Patrizio.
He also reported receiving $1,500 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, $2,500 from the Northern California Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association political action committee, $2,000 from Valley Lexus, $1,000 from Central Valley Automotive and $1,000 from Redeemer Modesto pastor Jim Applegate’s City Council campaign.
The two mayoral candidates have spent the money on such efforts to reach voters as mailers and other literature, yard and other campaign signs, online messaging, and phone and text banks.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 10:42 AM.
