Boxer Leads U.S. Senate Candidates in Campaign Funds : Politics: She raised $10.3 million, with Feinstein second in nation with almost $8 million. Four of the five top spenders are from California, report finds.

Despite the state’s deep recession, four California candidates were among the top five recipients nationwide of campaign funds in U.S. Senate races this year, according to a year-end report released by the Federal Election Commission.

Barbara Boxer, a Marin County Democrat, collected and spent more than any Senate candidate in the United States, as her successful campaign raised and spent $10.3 million.

The No. 2 fund-raiser was former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who collected almost $8 million for her victory over Sen. John Seymour.

In losing efforts, Republicans Bruce Herschensohn raised $7.7 million for third place among all the candidates; Seymour was fifth, raising $6.88 million.

In congressional races, Santa Barbara Republican Michael Huffington set a record by spending $5.3 million, most of it his own money, in winning a House seat. The record had been held by Jack Kemp, the outgoing secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who spent $2.6 million in 1986 in a successful bid for his former Buffalo, N.Y., congressional seat.

The big spending in California highlighted a year in which campaign spending nationally was propelled to record levels by a series of closely fought contests in the largest states and an unusual number of open seats in the House.

Total spending for general election candidates for Senate and House seats increased to $504 million, up 29% from two years ago, the commission said. In the House races alone, spending soared by 41%.

Nonetheless, election officials cautioned that 1992 was a distinctive election year and not easily compared to 1990.

Before this year, for example, many congressional races were a formality, as a well-known, entrenched incumbent sought reelection against an obscure challenger. But this year, 85 of 435 House seats had no incumbent seeking reelection, an increase from 30 in 1990.

In addition, the new census numbers forced states to redraw boundaries of their congressional districts, compelling many incumbents to seek votes in areas they had not represented before. The result was a spending splurge.

The candidates in races for the House raised $311 million, a 27% increase over 1990. Spending totaled $314 million, a 41% increase. Campaign spending laws allow candidates to collect money over many years for spending in a hard-fought campaign.

FEC regulations do not require that this money be spent on direct campaign activities. In the past, House members have used their campaign funds for travel, retreats, caterers, restaurant tabs and dozens of other expenses related in some way to congressional duties.

The Senate candidates raised $187 million this year and spent $190 million, but the commission said that it makes little sense to compare this year to 1990. Races in the most populous states such as California and New York are bound to be more expensive, and this year had the unique phenomenon of two simultaneous Senate races in California and an embattled incumbent seeking reelection in New York.

Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) was second in spending to Boxer with $8.9 million in expenditures in his successful reelection bid. His challenger, New York Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams, was the only non-Californian to make the top five in money raised, with $6.9 million.

Though Boxer’s $10.3 million in spending topped all the candidates this year, she still fell well short of the record.

“The record is still held by (Sen.) Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who spent $16.5 million in 1984,” said FEC spokesman Fred Eiland. In that race, Gov. James Hunt spent $9 million in a losing effort.