Wendy Greuel fundraising tops $1 million in congressional race

Former Los Angeles controller and city councilwoman Wendy Greuel said Thursday she has raised more than $1 million in her race to succeed Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills).

A report the Greuel campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission listed her total contributions as $1,049,833. Of that, $377,668 was raised during the last campaign finance reporting period, from April 1 through May 14.

Nearly all the money came from individual donors, the report says. She had $185,960 cash on hand, including about $28,000 that can be spent only on the general election.

Among Greuel’s contributors were Alan Horn, chairman of the Walt Disney Studios; former HUD secretary Henry Cisneros, and businessman James Graf, who filed for the Waxman seat but dropped out of the race after the ballots were finalized.

Greuel is widely viewed as a leading candidate in the crowded June 3 primary election field to succeed Waxman, who is retiring from the 33rd Congressional District seat after four decades in the House.

Only the first-and second-place primary finishers will advance to the fall general election.

The race, which features 18 names on the ballot plus a write-in candidate, is expected to be so close that the outcome may not be known until well after election night.