Eastdil Secured’s freshly chosen CEO donated $50,000 to Matt Mahan’s California governor campaign.
D. Michael Van Konynenburg, who was the company’s longtime president until a March announcement that it agreed to sell itself for more than $1 billion to Savills, made the donation to an independent expenditure committee supporting Mahan, who currently serves as mayor of San Jose, campaign finance data revealed. Van Konynenburg succeeded Roy March, who is now executive chairman. Eastdil is headquartered in New York City but has an office in Santa Monica, where Van Konynenburg is located. Eastdil representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mahan is reeling in money from a number of real estate executives but hasn’t gained much ground on the campaign trail. He is generally polling in the low single digits, which has been the case since his late-entry in a very crowded race — with the pattern holding in the wake of U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s exit. Swalwell’s fall from grace over sexual assault and misconduct allegations appeared to give Mahan more of a bump via contributions than voter support.
Mahan has dominated in fundraising, but that hasn’t been enough to place him ahead of his Republican and Democratic rivals: Fox News host Steve Hilton, former Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccara, hedge fund founder Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter, all of whom are polling better.
Van Konynenburg, after his donation last week, can now be considered part of the Los Angeles real estate crew backing Mahan. Billionaire developer Rick Caruso has doled out about $1.6 million on his choice for governor, after deciding not to run himself. Caruso’s money mostly went to the same committee that counts a roster of Silicon Valley elite as backers, too.
Others including Douglas Emmett’s Jordan Kaplan, Victor Coleman’s Hudson Pacific Properties, Kilroy Realty’s Angela Aman, star broker Jason Oppenheim and Related California’s Bill Witte have made donations to Mahan ranging from the maximum individual cap of around $78,400 to $10,000. (Independent expenditure committees can take in unlimited sums from donors, but candidates can’t.)
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