Campaign finance reports covering July 1 through Dec. 31 were due Thursday, offering the first look at where money is flowing in a Bexar County Judge contest between two popular, well-known Democrats.
In total, former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg raised more, leaning hard on the money of a few large donors to make up for lost time in an office where individual donors could only give $1,000 per campaign cycle.
Incumbent Peter Sakai brought in less money but reported a bigger campaign war chest, amassed over the course of three years in a role with no contribution limits.
Nirenberg reported roughly $360,000 raised between July 1 and Dec. 31, plus a $100,000 loan from local philanthropist Harvey Najim, leaving him with about $355,000 on hand as of Dec. 31.
Sakai raised about $254,000 during that same span and ended the year with $563,000 on hand.
Neither candidate had spent much on the most recent reports, with early voting for the March 3 primary starting Feb. 17.
In a busy season of campaign events, Sakai and Nirenberg will face off in a debate hosted by the San Antonio Report at Stable Hall on Feb. 10, one week before early voting kicks off.
Nirenberg’s biggest funders
Nirenberg, who termed out as San Antonio’s mayor this year, had been raising money for a future campaign even before leaving that office, though he wasn’t sure what race it would be.
In August he closed out his city campaign account, where mayoral candidates can only collect up to $1,000 from an individual donor each campaign cycle, and started a Texans for Ron Nirenberg PAC to be the fundraising vehicle for whatever came next.
From there he was able to collect a $50,000 check from his old campaign hand Christian Archer and a $25,000 check from Najim, among other smaller contributions.
Nirenberg ultimately passed on a potential statewide bid, where assembling the resources would have been a big challenge. But since county offices have no contribution limits, he was able to roll the PAC money into his campaign account for the judge race.
Nirenberg spent about $100,000 in the past six months through the PAC and campaign, some of which went toward his campaign consultants at Viva Politics, which worked on Sakai’s race in 2022.
He also has a federal PAC, called One Community, with about $40,000 in the bank as of last June.
Sakai’s biggest funders
Sakai, meanwhile, entered 2025 under pressure from the business community to deliver a deal on a new Spurs arena.
He started off hesitant, but after crafting a plan to rehabilitate the team’s existing home on the East Side, took on a major role in bringing voters on board.
The largest contributors so far to his reelection race have been from salsa billionaire and Pearl founder Kit Goldsbury and attorney Tullos Wells, who each gave $10,000.
He’s paying MAP Strategies, previously Nirenberg’s longtime consultant, to run his race.
