Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman spent a record $140 million on her campaign through the end of September, including about $55 million since winning her party's nomination in June, according to campaign finance records filed Tuesday.
Her Democratic rival, Jerry Brown, spent less than a tenth of Whitman's total – about $11 million – but didn't face any serious primary challenger and could count on unions to run anti-Whitman advertising through the summer.
Five of the biggest union-funded independent expenditure groups, including California Working Families, Working Californians to Support Jerry Brown and Level the Playing Field, spent about $13 million through the end of September running ads and campaigning against Whitman, the records show.
The groups were funded by an array of unions, including the California Nurses Association, the California Teachers Association and the California State Council of Service Employees.
On top of that, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees spent $2 million on TV ads opposing Whitman.
The filings don't show the cost of issue ads run by the California Teachers Association against Whitman or U.S. Chamber of Commerce ads targeting Brown.
Whitman had $9.2 million in reserves at the end of September, while Brown had $22.6 million in cash on hand.
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