Former Assemblyman Jose Solorio tops fundraising for open Senate seat

SACRAMENTO -- With state Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) prevented by term limits from running for reelection, three high-profile politicians, two of them Republicans, have so far formed finance committees to raise money for the open 34th Senate District seat, and two have significant amounts of cash.

The lone Democrat and fundraising leader is former Assemblyman Jose Solorio of Santa Ana, who reported Friday that he has raised $751,497 as of Dec. 31 for a campaign, with $440,000 left in his account to start the new year.

Orange County Board of Supervisors member Janet Nguyen, a Republican, reported raising $198,198 for her Senate run last year, and had cash on hand of $258,100. But she also can tap much of the money raised for her board of supervisors campaign, which had $319,023 in its account, according to Dave Gilliard, a campaign spokesman.

Long Pham, a Republican former member of the Orange County Board of Education, said he had raised less than $5,000 and provided less than that amount of his own money to get his campaign going. “Money is not everything,” Pham said.

Former Republican state Assemblyman James Silva of Huntington Beach has a 2014 Senate campaign committee that has $330,444 in the bank, but Silva said Friday he is not a candidate for the district this year. He formed the committee to park funds from a 2012 campaign, he said.

The district’s boundaries were redrawn for this election to be more competitive, with Democrats making up 38% of registered voters, Republicans accounting for 36% and those without a party affiliation making up 22%. As a result, the contest is one of a few Senate races targeted by both Democratic and Republican party officials.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com