2026 filings · 2024–2025 investigations
Follow the money.
What Salinas committees reported for 2026, then five investigations into who funded Salinas politics in 2024–2025 — and where that money went. Pulled from public FPPC Form 460 filings, organized by story.
2026 Money
2026 Filings
Data as of 2026-10-17Figures cover campaign statements for periods through that date; coverage differs by committee.
What Salinas committees reported on their 2026 full statements. Each measure is separate: none is added to another, and nothing is added across committees.
| Committee and statement coverage | Monetary contributions | Payments | Ending cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protect Salinas Residents 2026- Yes on Measure HID 1484184 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $602,178 | $519,606 | $121,659 |
| Donohue for Mayor 2026ID 1492496 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $141,197 | $127,948 | $13,249 |
| Irma C. Lopez for Salinas City Council 2026ID 1488486 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $102,146 | $88,822 | $13,324 |
| SAFE SalinasID 1496733 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $101,600 | $47,295 | $54,305 |
| Committee to Re-Elect Margaret D'Arrigo for Salinas City Council - District 3 - 2026ID 1478897 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $96,199 | $87,858 | $12,072 |
| Vote to Protect Salinas Renters 2026ID 1485691 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $51,965 | $40,259 | $16,160 |
| Keep Salinas Strong and Safe: Committee to Renew Measure GID 1496449 · Statement coverage: 2026-07-01 to 2026-10-17 | $48,400 | $0 | $48,400 |
| Sandoval for Salinas City Council District 5 2026ID 1471247 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $22,933 | $16,135 | $7,371 |
| Daniel Munoz for Salinas Mayor 2026ID 1490519 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $22,719 | $12,101 | $10,718 |
| Swensen for City Council District 3 2026ID 1490549 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $16,647 | $13,738 | $3,409 |
| Barrera for City Council 2026ID 1482360 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-09-19Read from the committee's paper-filed Form 460 statements (filing 217038488, received 2026-07-08; filing 217534118, received 2026-09-28), not from the City's e-filed data. | $8,488 | $1,296 | $7,191 |
| Committee to Elect Aurelio Salazar, Jr. to Salinas City Council District 6, 2024ID 1469600 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30 | $6,000 | $0 | $6,027 |
| Szalai for Salinas Mayor 2026ID 1488922 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $5,646 | $27,345 | $2,380 |
| Donohue for Mayor 2024ID 1469045 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30 | $1,400 | $883 | $0 |
| Jose Luis Barajas Recall Committee 2026ID 1490552 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-10-17 | $1,390 | $1,369 | $121 |
| Brenton Bagley for City Council 2026ID NF-217503420 · Statement coverage: 2026-07-01 to 2026-09-19Read from the committee's paper-filed Form 460 statement (filing 217503619, received 2026-09-23), not from the City's e-filed data. | $225 | $53 | $172 |
| CITIZENS SUPPORTING THE RECALL OF ANDREW SANDOVALID 1475742 · Statement coverage: 2026-01-01 to 2026-06-30 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Loans, in-kind support, itemized unpaid bills, outstanding debt and later reported receipts are separate measures that are not shown in this table. Each committee’s page lists them.
Some committees carry an earlier election year in their name but reported activity in 2026; the coverage dates show the period.
Rent referendum committees in this list
Each of these committees, tied to the rent referendum (Measure H), appears in this section with the same measures: in the table above if it has a 2026 full statement, in the list below if it has none. Committees are in committee ID order.
- Filed name refers to supporting a referendum petition; the filings reviewed state no position on the Measure H vote
- Position as filed: support of Measure H
- Position as listed by the City’s filing portal: oppose Measure H
- Listed by the City’s filing portal
POSTTV No on H
A committee named “POSTTV No on H” is also registered on the City’s filing portal and listed there as opposing Measure H; as of 2026-09-30 it had filed only a statement of organization (Form 410), so no figures are shown.
Positions are stated only as each committee’s filings, or the City’s filing portal, state them; they are not endorsements by Transparent Salinas.
No 2026 full statement
These committees have no 2026 full statement in the City’s exports, so their 2026 figures are unavailable, not zero.
Barajas for Salinas City Council 2024
Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero) · Payments: Unavailable (not zero)
Margaret D'Arrigo for Salinas City Council - District 3 - 2024
Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero) · Payments: Unavailable (not zero)
Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero) · Payments: Unavailable (not zero)
Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero) · Payments: Unavailable (not zero)
National Apartment Association
Monetary contributions: Unavailable (not zero) · Payments: Unavailable (not zero)
Full 2026 results →Open the explorer →By candidate →2026 Money overview →
2024–2025 history
2024–2025 investigations
2024–2025 history, data through May 17, 2026
Five investigations into who funded Salinas politics in the 2024–2025 cycle, and where that money went. They use this site’s earlier snapshot of filings, through May 17, 2026, which is a separate dataset from the 2026 filings above.
- Contributions raised, 2024–2025 cycle
- $1.36M
- Contributions + expenditures
- 1,854
- Committees & candidates
- 13
The whole picture
Included Schedule A contributions and Schedule E expenditures for the sitting council committees in this snapshot, in one view: the filing record, the committee, and the reported spending category. Hover, tap, or Tab to a band to follow the project’s aggregation.
Project view: agriculture, real estate, labor, and individual classifications enter from the left; council committees sit in the middle; project-grouped spending categories leave on the right.
Money in from FPPC ; money out from . Industry and spending categories are Transparent Salinas classifications based on names, disclosed employers, and expenditure codes. They are not official filing fields and can be incomplete or wrong. How we categorize →
These are 2024–2025 records. The 2026 filings of the rent referendum committees, each shown with the same measures, are at the top of this page and on the referendum page.
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01 · Referendum
Referendum Committee Financing
Two committees are compared in the snapshot; a third committee tied to the referendum, Vote to Protect Salinas Renters 2026 (1485691), appears on the PACs page with $200 in these records. The committee this project labels as supporting repeal raised more, from about one quarter as many filing-name groups; those labels are editorial context, not endorsements.
Project label · keep ordinances $31,693 71 filing-name groups · 88 contributions · $360 avg per contributionProject label · repeal ordinances $53,550 16 filing-name groups · 25 contributions · $2,142 avg per contribution -
02 · PACs
Independent Expenditure PACs
Three independent committees raised $290,800 to influence Salinas elections from outside any candidate’s campaign.
Protect Salinas $221,100 10 filing namesRecall Sandoval $69,500 3 filing namesVote to Protect Renters $200 2 filing names -
03 · Expenditures
Where the Money Went
$1.39M moved through eight committee datasets to vendors, consultants, mail houses, and payroll.
Total spent $1,387,864 2024 & 2025 cyclesTransactions 1,132 Schedule E filingsTop vendor share 28% one consulting firm -
04 · Donors
The Donor Directory
Search contributions to Salinas council campaigns across 408 filing-name groups. These are filing-record groupings, not verified unique people or organizations.
Filing-name groups 408 exact normalized name + type + cityCouncil total $965,526 candidate-committee receiptsDonor types 4 Individual / Business / PAC / SmallDirectory methodology: records are grouped by exact normalized filing name, entity type, and city. A group is not a verified identity; spelling or location differences can split one donor, while shared filing details can group different parties. See methodology and corrections.
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05 · Research aid
Editorial Donor Groupings
Project editors group filing records using name variants, disclosed employer or officer fields, and documented corporate relationships where available. The groups do not verify identity, family relationship, coordination, or common control.
How we cover this
Transaction tables and finance totals in the 2024–2025 investigations on this page are derived from the included FPPC Form 460 Schedule A and E exports from the City’s NetFile portal. Within this dated snapshot, the project selects the latest matched amended row available. Headings, categories, groupings, comparisons, and “what to notice” text are Transparent Salinas editorial context, not filing fields; consult the original filings and methodology before drawing conclusions.
The 2026 filings section at the top of this page comes from a separate dataset. Its sources and method are on the 2026 Money method page.