Big Developers Choose Ryan Coonerty for Mayor, According to Final Pre-Election Finance Reports

The developers supporting Ryan Coonerty's candidacy for mayor include some of the biggest names involved in local development. For example, the leadership team at the Seaside company contributed $2,700 in total to Coonerty's campaign, in addition to the large contribution made by the company to Santa Cruz Together.

Owen Lawlor is among the contributors to Coonerty's campaign. Lawlor has spearheaded a number of controversial projects in the city, including the Anton-Pacific luxury apartment building, and the Cruz Hotel proposal. Ruben Helick also contributed to Coonerty's campaign. Helick is a commercial real estate leasing and sales agent who was another one of the developers of Anton Pacific.

The few contractors and home builders who contributed to Ami Chen Mills' campaign can be described as small businesses. Her top contributor in this category is her husband, Barukh Bennaim. Bennaim owns GPI Builders, a business that specializes in home renovations and additions, as well as the construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Additionally, many community members are referring to Ryan Coonerty himself as a "developer' after he filed financial documents in March of this year that show he was paid to do consulting work for multiple development firms, including Redtree Partners, 201 Front SC, The Danco Group, Nielson Studios, and Lawlor Land Use, the company owned by Owen Lawlor. It has been reported locally that Coonerty was paid by Lawlor to work on the Cruz Hotel project.

All of the 2026 Santa Cruz mayoral candidates, except for Ryan Coonerty, signed the city's voluntary campaign expenditure limit agreement to cap expenditures to around $40,000 per election cycle, which amounts to a limit of nearly $80,000 for the full mayoral campaign, including the primary and the run-off. As of October 29, Ryan Coonerty had exceeded the spending limit by over $63,000, and Ami Chen Mills still had not raised enough in total contributions to reach the limit.


Total contributions received by City of Santa Cruz mayoral candidates through October 29, 2026 are as follows:

Ryan Coonerty: $164,685.52
Ami Chen Mills: $67,044.96

Total contributions include monetary contributions, nonmonetary contributions, and loans received, as reported by candidates using Form 460.


Monetary contributions (cash only) received by City of Santa Cruz mayoral candidates through October 29, 2026 are as follows:

Ryan Coonerty: $157,837.00
Ami Chen Mills: $65,585.00


Total expenditures made by each campaign, as of October 29, 2026 are as follows:

Ryan Coonerty: $143,942.72
Ami Chen Mills: $57,756.73


Monetary contributions (cash only) made to City of Santa Cruz City mayoral candidates from real estate and development interests are as follows:

Ryan Coonerty

$900 Steven Allen (Aptos, CA), Real Estate, Allen Property Group
$900 Thomas Brezsny, Realtor, Christie's International Sereno
$900 Charles Canfield, Owner, Santa Cruz Seaside Company
$900 Tom Canfield, Executive Vice President, Santa Cruz Seaside Company
$900 Timerie Gordon, Owner, Nielson Studios (also member of City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission)
$900 North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters Power PAC (Sacramento, CA)
$900 Karl Rice, CEO, Santa Cruz Seaside Company
$750 Reuben Helick (Aptos, CA), Commercial Real Estate Agent, Cushman & Wakefield US Inc.
$600 Tom Ralston, Contractor
$500 Victor Gomez (Hollister, CA), Consultant, Land Use Planning, Pinnacle Strategy LLC
$500 Greg Lukina (Scotts Valley, CA), Realtor
$500 Don Roland, Vice-President of Government Affairs, Granite Construction
$499 Owen Lawlor, Developer, Lawlor LandUse, 201 Front SC LLC
$450 Joe Appenrodt (Capitola, CA), Real Estate
$450 California Real Estate PAC (Los Angeles, CA), California Association of Realtors
$450 Aaron Freitas (Scotts Valley, CA), Owner, J&K Freitas Holdings
$450 Eli Karon, Owner/Realtor, Karon Properties
$450 Nicole Karon, Real Estate, Karon Properties
$450 Christian Nielson, Owner/Architect, Nielson Studios
$450 William Ow, Real Estate, Ow Properties
$450 Hallie Richmond, Property Manager, Surf City Rentals
$450 John Swift, Land Use Planning, Swift Consulting Services Inc.
$450 Thomas Werbe, Real Estate Broker
$450 Z's Properties, Property Holding Company
$400 Richard Beach, Real Estate Broker, RealtorBeach
$399 Geoffrey Dunn, 201 Front SC LLC
$350 Bradley Angell, Architect
$350 Barbara Palmer (Aptos, CA), Business Manager/Realtor, Bailey Properties Inc.
$300 Eric Grodberg, Landlord
$300 Pete Kennedy Green Building Expert, Beyond Effiency (also member of City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission)
$300 Derek Timm (Scotts Valley, CA), Real Estate Broker, Montalvo Homes & Estates
$299 Krista Cook, Realtor, Lighthouse Realty
$250 Sandra & Claudio Locatelli, Property Management
$250 David Plumlee, Realtor
$250 Louis Rittenhouse, Developer/Major Property Holder
$200 Cathy Calfo, Property Manager
$200 Bonnie Friedmann, Owner, Construction Company
$200 Scott & Lynne Rogers, General Contractor, SLR
$200 Audrey Tennant, Realtor, David Lyng Real Estate
$200 Mari Tustin, Real Estate, John Stewart Company
$200 Miro Weinberger (Burlington, VT), Housing Advocate, Let's Build Homes
$150 William & Linda Bailey, Realtor, Miritz-Bailey
$150 Celeste Faraola, Real Estate Broker, Schooner Realty
$100 Paul Burrows (Los Gatos, CA), Real Estate, David Lyng Real Estate
$100 Marvin Christie, Owner, Anderson Christie Real Estate
$100 Zoe Paco, Transaction Coordinator, Anderson Christie Real Estate
$100 Randy Parker (Soquel, CA), Real Estate Broker, JR Parrish
$100 Scott Renfrew, Project Manager, Bayview Services
$100 Clarke Shultes, Building Designer

Total: $20,147.00


Ami Chen Mills

$900 Barukh Bennaim, GPI Builders
$610 Micah Posner, Low Income Developer
$450 Ray Newkirk, Contractor, Outside Enterprises Inc.
$300 Lee Brokaw, General Contractor
$250 Jennie Dusheck, Landlord


Total: $2,510.00


* Please note: All campaign finance totals reported in this article include figures from the June 2 primary election cycle, as well as the November 3 runoff.


Independent Expenditures Funded by Real Estate and Development Interests

The group Santa Cruz Together has reported spending $33,265.79 in total during 2026 on campaign mailers in support of Ryan Coonerty's mayoral campaign.

Santa Cruz Together first reported spending $13,410.83 (in total) on campaign mailers to support Coonerty on May 6 during the primary election. On October 20, Santa Cruz Together spent another $19,854.96 on campaign mailers to support Coonerty.

A campaign finance form filed on May 4 shows that Green Valley Corporation, S.C. Beach Hotel Partners, and the Santa Cruz Seaside Company each contributed $5,000 to Santa Cruz Together. On September 24, Green Valley Corporation and S.C. Beach Hotel Partners each contributed another $5,0000 to Santa Cruz Together.

The three businesses contributed $25,000.00 in total to Santa Cruz Together in 2026. They have been the only contributors to Santa Cruz Together during the mayoral campaign. All three businesses have major local development interests.

Green Valley Corporation is a development and construction company based in San Jose that is owned by the Barry Swenson family. The company has a local office in Santa Cruz, and is responsible for many developments in the area.

S.C. Beach Hotel Partners owns La Bahia Hotel & Spa and the Dream Inn Santa Cruz. Over the years, the company has proposed developing its main parking lot into a high-rise housing complex, but dropped its most recent plans to do so. Historically, Ryan Coonerty was a strong supporter of the construction of the La Bahia Hotel, especially the early versions of the design that were widely opposed by the public and other stakeholders, including labor unions.

In addition to owning the Boardwalk, the Santa Cruz Seaside Company also owns many other properties in the city, including several key parcels in the Downtown Plan Expansion area south of Laurel Street. The parcels could be used to build the new Santa Cruz Warriors arena, which is expected to come before the Santa Cruz City Council during the next mayor's term.

Campaign contributions that go through a political organization in this manner are called independent expenditures, and they are not subject to the same limits as individual contributions made directly to the campaign.

Santa Cruz Together was originally formed to fight Measure M, the rent control measure on the ballot in the City of Santa Cruz in 2018. Since that time, the group has contributed funds to more conservative Santa Cruz City Council candidates during every election cycle. Santa Cruz Together also funded the opposition to the Empty Home Tax, Measure N, which was on the ballot in the City of Santa Cruz in 2022.

Ryan Coonerty has had a close relationship with Santa Cruz Together since before running for mayor. In 2018, Coonerty took a stance to oppose rent control and endorsed the No on Measure M campaign. In 2022, he co-signed the official ballot argument for the campaign opposing Measure N, the Empty Home Tax.

Funded mostly by real estate and development interests, Santa Cruz Together describes itself as a "grassroots coalition" of "neighbors, local businesses and organizations" on its website, however the group hasn't reported receiving any small political contributions in years.

In addition to the large independent expenditures, the founders of Santa Cruz Together have also contributed cash as individuals to Ryan Coonerty's mayoral campaign: Lynn Renshaw contributed $850, and Dan Coughlin contributed $250.


Ryan Coonerty's Economic Interests Disclosures

Looking at the most recent Form 700 filings for all of five of the mayoral candidates, Santa Cruz News Network found that Ryan Coonerty is the only candidate who has reported receiving income from the development industry.

On March 10, 2026, Coonerty reported receiving income from several local real estate and development companies, including Redtree Partners LP, 201 Front SC LLC, Lawlor Land Use (developer Owen Lawlor's company) and Nielsen Studios, Architecture & Design.

201 Front Street SC LLC is a company led by developer Owen Lawlor that is planning to build an eight-story apartment building at 201 Front Street, as well as the associated development of an eight-story apartment building to replace the Neptune Apartments at 407 Pacific Avenue.

Lawlor has spearheaded a number of controversial projects in the city, including Anton-Pacific and the Cruz Hotel. Owen Lawlor is also among the contributors to Coonerty's campaign, as well as an endorser.

Coonerty reported receiving income from The Danco Group, a development, construction and property management company based in Arcata, CA. The Danco Group is planning to build a seven-story apartment building at 1320 Pacific Avenue, the current site of Dell Williams Jewelers, which is owned by Coonerty's wife, Emily Bernard Coonerty, and her mother Cindy Williams Bernard. Additionally, Coonerty reported receiving rental income from 1320 Pacific Avenue.

Coonerty reported receiving income from one other out of area business: Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a real estate investment company based in Bethesda, MD that acquires and invests in hotel and resort properties, and whose portfolio includes local property Chaminade Resort & Spa.