Assembly candidate Joan Buchanan is rallying her supporters to give her $5 in hopes of winning a fundraising contest that would give her an additional $2,500.

Buchanan sent an e-mail to supporters Monday asking for a $5 donation through the website ActBlue. On that site, Buchanan and other Democratic state legislative candidates can count each donation as a "vote" through Oct. 17. The candidate with the most votes by that deadline will receive a $2,500 campaign donation.

Donations can be of any size, but all donations are counted the same in terms of votes.

Several Democratic candidates in competitive races are on the list of contenders, including Buchanan in AD 15, Alyson Huber in AD 10, Hannah-Beth Jackson in SD 19, Lois Wolk in SD 5 and Fran Florez in AD 30.

As of Monday afternoon, Buchanan, a school board member from Alamo, led the list with about 1,200 votes. She was trailed by Jackson, an attorney and former Assemblywoman from Santa Barbara, with about 1,100, and Shafter Mayor Florez with just over 1,000 votes.

ELSEWHERE on PolitickerCA.com:

• Huber, Gilmore, Buchanan get independent money support