A Point Loma attorney has made a $1 million campaign contribution to the political arm of the Lincoln Club that club officials say could be used to help the man challenging San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria for re-election. The donation is large enough potentially to shift the campaign-funding playing field in the race between Gloria and police officer Larry Turner, which has been dominated so far by Gloria and independent committees supporting him. The donation was made to a political action committee controlled by the Lincoln Club of San Diego County. Campaign cash and independent political committees’ spending can pay for mailers, ads, posters, yard signs, phone banks and other efforts to support a candidate or attack opponents. News of the large donation comes one week after a new poll showed Gloria’s lead over Turner had narrowed from 13 points to 4 points since July, with more than a quarter of voters still undecided. Campaign disclosures released Thursday show the $1 million donation was made Sept. 12 by Point Loma attorney Steven Richter, who declined by phone and email to answer questions about the donation from The San Diego Union-Tribune. Lincoln Club executive director Victor Lopez said Thursday that the club is in the process of creating a new committee to support Turner, an independent, in his race against Gloria, a Democrat. Lopez said the new committee is being created after many people have urged the club — known for supporting mostly Republicans and conservative candidates — to help Turner defeat Gloria. Lopez declined to say if Richter is one of those people, but he said it’s possible the $1 million from Richter will be placed in that committee’s spending account. But he said the decision on how to spend Richter’s $1 million will ultimately be made by Mike Turk, chair of the Lincoln Club Political Action Committee that received the donation. Turk declined requests for an interview Thursday but texted what he called an “official” response: “The Lincoln Club of San Diego County has received a donation of $1 million into our general purpose committee. We have not yet made a decision on how those funds are going to be used and will evaluate all of our priority races as we see fit.” Gloria’s campaign manager Jen Tierney said Thursday that while she hasn’t been able to confirm whether the $1 million would be used against the mayor’s re-election, she would not be surprised based on the Lincoln Club’s reputation. “These are people who brag about meeting with JD Vance on social media,” said Tierney, referring to the Ohio senator seeking the vice presidency as Donald Trump’s running mate. “The far right is coming for Mayor Gloria, and he is ready to fight for the people of San Diego.” Turner’s communications director, Scott Kavieff, declined Thursday to discuss the $1 million donation to the Lincoln Club committee. It’s illegal for candidates to coordinate campaign efforts with committees that support them or oppose their opponents. “The Larry Turner campaign has no comment or involvement with donations made to any independent expenditure committee,” he said. Gloria also has an independent committee supporting him, called Big City San Diego. The committee raised $141,000 during the first half of 2024 but had spent most of that money before the March primary. It filed notice last month that it was ceasing operations. Gloria’s personal campaign committee, in a report released Thursday, said it raised $103,000 during the most recent disclosure period — July 1 through Sept. 21 — and has $366,000 in cash for the rest of the campaign. Turner’s campaign, in its disclosure report released Thursday, said it raised $70,000 between July 1 and Sept. 21 and has $23,000 cash on hand. Gloria garnered just under 50 percent of the vote in the five-candidate March primary, while Turner got just over 23 percent. The two are scheduled to debate each other again Oct. 3.