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Incumbent Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt has accelerated his fundraising, closing the yawning gap that existed just a couple of weeks ago between him and challenger Nathan Vasquez.
The latest filings show that Schmidt has now recorded a total of $294,937 in contributions from the Working Families Party of Oregon. WW first reported a mysterious $340,000 contribution to the party April 24, and posited that because billionaires George Soros and Mark Zuckerberg had previously contributed to the Working Families national political action committee in support of criminal justice reform, the money could be coming Schmidt’s way.
The Working Families Party money soon began flowing to Schmidt’s campaign. The Oregonian closed the loop earlier this week, noting a Soros contribution to the Working Families national PAC.
On May 9, Schmidt also disclosed a $33,000 contribution from the Drug Policy Alliance, the Soros-funded group that funded Measure 110, the 2020 drug decriminalization law. DPA has given Schmidt $63,000, and, as of this morning, he’s raised a total of $1.026 million, nearly catching Vasquez, who has raised $1.123 million.
The total for the two candidates is more than four times what Schmidt and his 2020 opponent, Ethan Knight, raised. The cash is producing a torrent of sharp-edged mailers and television ads.
Ballots will be counted May 21.
Clarification: This story originally said Schmidt had exceeded Vasquez’s contribution total, but the Schmidt campaign has since determined that it had duplicated a contribution from the Working Families Party. It corrected the error in ORESTAR, the state campaign finance reporting system.