Desmond Has Spent a Lot of County Money on Ads About Himself

County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who is termed out and running for the 48th Congressional District seat, spent almost $250,000 in public funds the first eight months of the year to expand his already strong social media presence.

Desmond often uses his official county supervisor accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X to not only keep his constituents updated, but also to share short videos about his position on different policies, his point of view and his work in District 5, which covers a lot of North County.

From January to early September of this year, Desmond’s office spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of county funds on advertising, a review of public records revealed.

That includes paid promotions of hundreds of his videos across his social media accounts, as well as paid ads on television channels like Hulu and HBO Max.

The funds came from the allotted budget he receives as a supervisor. Each supervisor’s office received a budget of around $3.6 million for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, Tammy Glenn, communications director for the county, confirmed. They tend to use that money to pay for things like office supplies, printing services and event registration fees.