Money is pouring into San Jose's three contested City Council runoffs. Candidates in Districts 5, 7 and 9 took in roughly $240,000 in direct contributions between July 1 and Sept. 19, San José Spotlight reported from the latest campaign filings. That's nearly a third of everything those six candidates have raised since campaigning began last year.

No one won an outright majority in the June primary, so each district sent its top two finishers to November.

District 9: an open seat

Vice Mayor Pam Foley is terming out of this southwest San Jose district, which takes in Hillsdale, Cambrian Park and part of Willow Glen. Marriage and family therapist Genny Altwer finished first in June with 35.5% and has raised $183,216, including a $15,000 loan to herself. Public Works employee Gordon Chester, who got 22.2%, has raised $54,775, close to double what he had in July, plus a $4,000 personal loan. Chester told the Spotlight that 66% of his contributions since July were $100 or less.

Donor lists have become a talking point. Chester's camp points to Altwer donors who hold leadership roles in the county Republican Party. Altwer notes endorsements from Democratic Rep. Sam Liccardo and Planned Parenthood, and her side questions Chester's backing from the South Bay Progressive Alliance, which supported a 2020 push to defund police. Chester says he doesn't support defunding the police but wants more non-police emergency response options.

District 7: a rematch of rivals

Incumbent Bien Doan, who came close to winning outright with 47.8% in June, has raised $189,884, including a $20,000 personal loan. East Side Union High School District trustee Van Le, who got 22.4%, has raised $119,286 and loaned her campaign $30,000. A business-aligned committee, the California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC, has spent more than $150,000 to help Doan. The Spotlight noted District 7 voters haven't reelected an incumbent to a second term in more than a decade.

District 5: incumbent holds the lead

Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who led June's primary with 44.9%, has collected $222,060. Former councilmember and Assemblymember Nora Campos, running against him again after losing in 2022, has raised $100,572, about 40% of it in the last three months. A committee backed by the South Bay Labor Council has spent more than $143,000 supporting Ortiz.

Ortiz says he has close to 500 donors. Campos says voters in East San Jose are frustrated over housing costs, crime and blight.