Just weeks before the November election, a $1 million donation to a conservative political action committee (PAC) could shake up the San Diego mayoral race.

Attorney Steven Richter donated the hefty sum to the Lincoln Club of San Diego’s PAC. The chair of the PAC, however, said he’s not sure how the money will be spent.

The conservative Lincoln Club of San Diego endorsed Larry Turner, who identifies as an independent, in his bid to be the next mayor of San Diego. The Lincoln Club’s executive director, Victor Lopez, could have a committee supporting Turner set up as soon as Friday.

While the donation is hardly too little to shake up a relatively quiet local campaign season, does it come too late?

“This is probably the last possible moment that a donation, even a million-dollar one, could affect a campaign,” UC San Diego political-science professor Thad Kousser told NBC 7.

Richter did not respond to NBC 7’s requests for comment, regarding this article. A donation of that size cannot go directly to a candidate but can go to a PAC, which can spend it however members decide, as long as they are not in communication with the candidate.

The chair of Lincoln Club’s PAC responded to NBC 7’s questions via email, saying, “We have many priority races, and I have not decided where the money is going to be spent.” He said a letter was attached to the donation, telling them to spend the money as they see fit, “no strings attached.”

The Lincoln Club has also endorsed the Republicans in the competitive Congressional District 49 and Board of Supervisors District 3 races (Matt Gunderson and Kevin Faulconer, respectively).

“There’s a lot of things that have dominoes that would have to fall before we know whether this will be a groundbreaking, ground-shaking contribution in the mayor’s race,” said UCSD’s Kousser. “A million dollars is a big start toward running a very serious mayoral campaign. This campaign seems to have tightened in recent polling.”

This is hardly the start of campaign season, though. In the home stretch, Kousser said, candidates should be encouraging voters to go to the polls, not just getting their names out to the masses via TV ads or mailers, which is how the money could be spent in support of Turner.

“Californians’ dissatisfaction with crime rates and homelessness across the state are playing out in these campaigns, and dissatisfaction could lead them to possibly reconsider electing someone who so far has been a fairly popular incumbent mayor,” Kousser said.

Todd Gloria’s campaign manager, Jen Tierney, said in a statement, “Voters should understand what is happening: This is the latest attempt by far-right, Trump Republican forces looking to undermine the progress Mayor Gloria has made and take San Diego backward. San Diego deserves leaders like Mayor Gloria who reflect its values – not those of far-right extremists. We are going to fight to protect the progress we’ve made and keep San Diego moving forward.”

For those who have been following the topsy-turvy San Diego Wave season from the start, it’s been nothing short of a telenovela with a never-ending cliffhanger. Despite the off-field distractions and inconsistent play on the pitch, SD Wave still has a pulse for sneaking into the playoffs as the eighth and final seed.

The team, led by interim head coach Landon Donavan, will probably need to go undefeated and with the mindset that a draw is the same as a loss starting with the upcoming match on Saturday evening at Snapdragon Stadium versus the Portland Thorns, which will be part of the team’s annual Latino Heritage Night celebration. This event will feature mariachi music, luchadores, lowriders, and Ballet Folklórico leading up to the big game.

The last time both sides met was on Sept. 18 in the Concacaf W Champions Cup with Maria Sanchez scoring a hat-trick in a 3-2 victory after falling behind by two goals. San Diego then went on to lose 1-0 to the Chicago Red Stars on Sept. 21, which kept the Wave in 12th place and six points behind both Racing Louisville and Bay FC.

Portland is in seventh place with 28 points and has not won a league match since its 1-0 win over SD Wave on July 5 at Providence Park.

What complicates matters for San Diego is that it has to outplay four teams to get the final post-season spot with goal differential not likely to serve as an advantage versus Louisville who it will face at home in the regular season finale. The Wave must also travel twice more to take on the North Carolina Courage on Oct. 5 and Kansas City Current on Oct. 19.

If San Diego Wave manages to make the playoffs somehow, it will be playing with house money and could end up becoming a dark horse primed to upset the favorites including the undefeated Orlando Pride, who it would face in the quarterfinal.

Photo by San Diego Wave

U.S. Treasury yields were lower on Friday, with investors looking to the release of key inflation data as they weighed the state of the economy.

At 3:23 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by over one basis point to 3.7714%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 3.6021% after falling by more than two basis points.

Yields and prices have an inverted relationship. One basis point equals 0.01%.

Investors on Friday focused on the release of August’s personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge and could therefore provide clues about the monetary policy outlook.

Economists are expecting headline PCE to reflect a 2.3% increase on an annual basis and a 0.1% rise from the previous month. Personal income and spending data will be released alongside the PCE figures.

The data comes as investors have been giving renewed attention to the state of the economy after the Federal Reserve announced a hotly anticipated interest rate cut earlier in the month.

Data published Thursday calmed questions about whether there could be an economic downturn ahead and indicated to some investors that the Fed’s reasoning for cutting rates was not in fact a weakening economy.

The final reading of the second-quarter gross domestic product was unrevised, remaining at 3%, while weekly initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected and durable goods orders for August were unchanged compared with the forecast decline.