Almanza, McGhee lead in fundraising in crowded District 3 race

District 3, listed as the poorest among the city’s 10 parts, has produced a large pool of candidates vying to represent them. One of those candidates, however, has decided not to continue his race.

Miguel Ancira, a senior coordinator for Capital One Bank, has decided not to run for the District 3 seat after all. He filed a final report indicating that he would no longer spend or raise money and ending his appointment of a campaign treasurer. He had only raised $875, spent more than $1400 and had a zero balance. He did not return a call requesting comment but it seems likely that the difficulty of raising funds was at least a factor in his decision to get out of the race.

Susana Almanza, the presumed frontrunner in District 3, reported raising $11,170 and had a balance of nearly $7600 at the time of her report. Almanza, as the leader of PODER, has made friends in the environmental community, including contributors Brad Rockwell and Robin Schneider, as well as community activist Brian Rodgers and Hispanic politicos former Mayor Gus Garcia and consultant Paul Saldaña.

Another District 3 candidate with a hefty bank account is ACC Instructor Fred McGhee. He lists contributions of just over $1,400 but has loaned his campaign $12,500. McGhee, who is active in both citywide and neighborhood civic activities, has $12,507 on hand.

Other candidates in District 3 include community and statewide political activist Shaun Ireland, who lists $1175 in contributions, a $7,000 loan and $1,175 cash on hand; Mario Cantu, with $3,720 in contributions and $2,061 on hand; Eric J. Rangel, who lists $2,255 in contributions and zero ($0.00) dollars on hand; Sabino “Pio” Renteria, lists $499 in contributions and $75 on hand; and Julian Limon Fernandez has $980 in contributions and,$60 on hand, Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla, lists no contributions or cash on hand.