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Incumbent Gov. Kate Brown is continuing a torrid post-primary fundraising pace that has pushed her far ahead of her chief opponent in the November general election, state Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend).
In the past week, Brown reported new contributions from California philanthropist Steve Silberstein ($50,000), David Cornfield, a retired early Microsoft employee who lives in Seattle ($30,000) and Tom Steyer ($15,000), the San Francisco billionaire who has emerged as one of the Democratic Party's largest funders.
Silberstein, whose company developed technology used in more than 1,500 libraries, has now given Brown, a Democrat a total of $100,000 for her re-election campaign, making him the governor's largest individual donor.
One other highlight for Brown—she reported a contribution of $20,000 from Golden Leaf Holdings, a Canadian-backed, Portland-based cannabis retail company that hopes to franchise weed stores across the country under the Chalice Farms brand.
That appears to be the largest single contribution to date from a cannabis business to an Oregon politician.
Brown has now raised $2.7 million this year and has $4.4 million in the bank, having spent little while running virtually unopposed in the May primary.
Buehler, on the other hand, spent heavily—about $2.6 million—to defeat fellow Republicans Sam Carpenter and Greg Wooldridge, both of whom ran to his right. He has not really begun to rebuild his war-chest: Buehler has just $317,000 on hand after raising $1.5 million this year.