In campaign emails imploring potential donors for cash, Rep. Linda Sánchez often touts the essential role of her small-dollar contributors.

“Grassroots donors like you are why I can proudly represent my constituents in Congress,” the California Democrat said in a March 3 message. “Your generosity is powering a campaign for and by the working people of California.”

In reality, exceedingly little of the money Sánchez raises comes from the people she represents.

While her campaign for a 13th term in Congress has amassed over $1.2 million, the bulk of that money comes from the political action committees of hundreds of corporations and trade associations, many of which donated the maximum allowed of $10,000 ahead of the June 2 primary.

Despite Sánchez’s claim to would-be donors that “This movement is powered by grassroots supporters chipping in what they can, when it counts,” donations under $200 account for less than 1.25% of her campaign fundraising total.

Candidates must disclose information including the address of anyone who cumulatively donates $200 or more in a calendar year. NOTUS found a total of six people who donated at that level to Sánchez’s campaign this election cycle with a listed address within her current congressional district. They have contributed a collective $1,795 to the effort.

Her campaign has received $12,840 total this cycle from undisclosed contributors who gave under $200.

Sánchez stands apart in her dearth of home-district, as well as home-state, donors. An analysis of federal records shows that she received less money in 2025 from Californians than any of her fellow representatives from the state, regardless of party.

What Sánchez lacks in local support, she more than makes up for from corporations and industry groups.

Many of these interests are seemingly attracted to her position on the House Ways and Means Committee, where she is the ranking member of the trade subcommittee. Roughly $930,000 of the $1.2 million she’s raised comes from such PACs, including those of Amazon, Home Depot, Boeing and BlackRock.

PACs for insurance and finance giants are abundant donors to her campaign, among them: H&R Block, Morgan Stanley, AFLAC, Goldman Sachs, Fidelity and Bank of America.

Sánchez also sits on the Ways and Means health subcommittee and has accepted sizable donations from the likes of Pfizer, Eli Lilly, CVS Health, Blue Shield of California, Humana, Cigna Group, Encompass Health, Molina Healthcare, Select Medical Corp, DaVita, Bristol-Myers Squibb and others.

“Congresswoman Sánchez has strong grassroots support from volunteers, labor unions, local Democratic clubs, and the California Democratic Party because her record of delivering for working families speaks for itself,” her campaign spokesperson Adam Russell said in a statement. “They know her vote has never been for sale and that she works every day to elect Democrats to fight Trump, while her Democratic primary opponent is cozying up to MAGA Republicans.”

Sánchez’s acceptance of donations from over 150 corporate PACs puts her at odds with many other Democrats who have decried the influence of corporate PAC money.

More than 200 Democratic candidates have signed a pledge swearing off corporate PAC contributions as the party leans into anti-corruption messaging this election cycle.

Last year, Democratic Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Mark Kelly pursued legislation in the Senate that would ban such PACs entirely. Sánchez’s California colleague, Rep. Ro Khanna, has introduced similar legislation in the House, where he founded the No PAC Caucus.

Prominent trade associations, mostly focused on health care, are also sending thousands of dollars to Sánchez’s campaign, including PhRMA, the Federation of American Hospitals, American Medical Rehab Providers and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“Many politicians who proudly proclaim that they are funded by grassroots contributions are mainly funded by special interest groups, corporations and rich people who can ‘max out’ to their campaigns,” Nick Penniman, the founder and CEO of the political reform group Issue One, told NOTUS in a statement.

“It’s a failure of the absurd, corrupting campaign finance system,” he said.

Sánchez invests heavily in her fundraising efforts.

This election cycle, her campaign has spent more on fundraising-related expenses — nearly $250,000 — than she has raised from all her individual donors combined. The Sánchez campaign spent tens of thousands of campaign dollars facilitating donor events at the former Staples Center and the waterfront Tides Inn resort. The campaign also picked up four-figure tabs from several luxury Italian restaurants in D.C., including Osteria Mozza and RPM Italian.

Those expenditures, along with the details of Sánchez’s fundraising efforts, are publicly disclosed via Federal Election Commission records. Sánchez purports to care deeply about the appearance of her FEC reports, viewing their content as a marker of not only her success, but also that of Latino lawmakers on the whole.

“Our first quarterly FEC deadline is at the end of this month,” she wrote in a March 16 fundraising pitch. “That means that all the funds we’ve raised so far this year will be publicly available, and people will be paying attention.”

“We need this FEC deadline to be a slam dunk,” she said in the March Madness-themed email. “Whether or not we hit our goals will show the strength of Latino Democrats nationwide.”

Republicans would be “looking for any sign of weakness” while examining her FEC reports, she told potential donors in a December fundraising pitch.

Sánchez is running in California’s newly redrawn 41st Congressional District, which shifted the district boundaries west to cover portions of Southeast Los Angeles County and Orange County. It was gerrymandered solid blue to eliminate its Republican incumbent and provide a lock for Democrats.

She and other Democrats share the June open primary ballot with one Republican: Mitch Clemmons, a local plumbing contractor who has not recorded any donations to his recently created campaign committee. Still, Sánchez has framed her campaign as so fragile and in need of cash that falling a few dollars short could spell the end of her 23 years in Congress.

“In a grassroots campaign like ours, $5 can be the difference between defeat and victory,” she recently wrote. “Even the smallest contributions add up. … Our campaign is built by grassroots supporters like you.”

When signaling to outside groups whom she would like to see targeted in the primary, Sánchez’s campaign makes no mention of her Republican opponent. Instead, it has focused on a Democratic rival: former state Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, whom she defeated in 2002.

Sánchez’s campaign utilizes what’s known as ”red boxing” on its website, a tactic employed by candidates to effectively subvert federal laws that bar campaigns from coordinating with outside groups, such as super PACs.

Until recently, the red box on Sánchez’s campaign website was primarily filled with biographical information about the candidate. But this month, the Sánchez campaign updated the red box to include information about De La Torre that sought to tie him to Republicans.

“De La Torre is backed by MAGA Republicans … and has taken thousands in campaign contributions from donors to Republicans,” the red box reads. A linked opposition-research document lists seven such donors who collectively contributed $30,000 to Republican groups or candidates, including one who in 2012 gave to then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and one-time House candidate Gary De Long.

An examination of Sánchez’s campaign donors indicates that at least two dozen of them have collectively contributed nearly $250,000 to Republican candidates or PACs since 2023. Additionally, NOTUS found that over 200 of the corporate and industry group PACs backing Sánchez have also given to Republicans or their aligned groups in recent years.

Both candidates have resorted to using juvenile nicknames for one another and have uploaded crude images online.

De La Torre has sought to highlight years of campaign spending on high-end hotels and chauffeur services by Sánchez — labeling her “Limo Linda” — as well as her violation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act’s disclosure provisions.

Sánchez, in turn, branded her opponent “Hector De La MAGA.” Websites created with those nicknames prominently feature altered images of their opponents: an AI-generated depiction of Sánchez laughing out of a limousine window and a black-and-white cutout of De La Torre adorned with a bright red MAGA cap.

Meanwhile, Sánchez’s fundraising emails follow a familiar pattern. A week and a half before the end of any given month, she will write to potential contributors that her campaign is falling behind:

“There are just less than 10 days left in the month, and our January fundraising numbers are not where they need to be.”

“There are just 10 days left in February, and our fundraising numbers are not where they need to be.”

“There are just 11 days left in March, and our fundraising numbers are not where they need to be.”

The strategy is rinse-and-repeat to the extent that those February and March fundraising emails are word-for-word the same, save for the month listed. Invariably, the following month will bring a thank-you email announcing the goal was met, accompanied by a plea to “start this month strong” by making another contribution.

“Taking on Trump and the MAGA movement won’t be easy,” Sánchez said in a fundraising appeal as early voting began this week. “We need a strong showing now to show the MAGA dark money machine that our seat isn’t for sale.”

Fundraising emails sent Feb. 18 and March 20 by Rep. Linda Sánchez’s reelection campaign.