Cruz, Clinton attract big money from Georgians

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of federal campaign finance disclosures filed earlier this month also showed that Hillary Clinton topped Bernie Sanders in the money race among the state’s Democrats. The filings detail direct contributions to the candidates, not giving from so-called super PACs, which can accept unlimited dollars and don’t have to report their donors.

Cruz's campaign committee reported that it raised more than $670,000 in Georgia between Jan. 1 and March 31 from thousands of individual donors in Georgia. The first-term senator easily surpassed the Georgia hauls of his two Republican rivals who remain in the race, Donald Trump and John Kasich, despite the fact he placed third in the state's March 1 primary contest.

Trump raised a little more than $50,000 in Georgia during the first three months of 2016. The billionaire is largely self-funding his White House bid himself — he has so far loaned his campaign nearly $36 million, according to federal filings — and has repeatedly highlighted that he doesn’t need campaign donations.

That did not stop some Georgians from giving.

“It’s not a lot, but I feel like I’m giving him a little bit of support,” said Steve Renda, an insurance agent in Duluth who contributed $300 to the Trump campaign between January and March. He likes Trump’s stand against big donors and outside interests but said he still felt compelled to chip into the real estate magnate’s campaign.

Kasich, meanwhile, was bested in Georgia by Marco Rubio and Ben Carson, who both dropped out of the GOP contest by mid-March. The Ohio governor reported more than $125,000 in contributions during the first quarter. The bounty came from a small yet seemingly devoted group of several hundred contributors clustered mainly in metro Atlanta. They donated an average of $325 each. In comparison, the average-sized Georgia donations to Cruz, Trump and Carson were respectively $95, $265 and $61 and were more spread out across the state.

Kerwin Swint, the chairman of the department of political science and international affairs at Kennesaw State University, said the Cruz campaign’s strong presence in Georgia likely helped him attract more contributions than his competitors.

“He’s pretty well organized in a bunch of places. That’s one of his strengths as a candidate. He’s got a pretty good network here in Georgia that helped him raise quite a bit of money,” said Swint, a former political consultant. “Trump does not. He hasn’t focused on that at all.”

Indeed, Cruz's supporters outmaneuvered Trump's in many of Georgia's district conventions earlier this month, ensuring that many of the state's delegates who will go to the GOP nominating convention in July will back the Texan should there be a second ballot.

Appling retiree Linda York gave the Cruz campaign a total of $325 in early 2016.

“The first time I heard him speak I think it was on Glenn Beck’s show and he was running for Senate in Texas. I think he was on for the whole hour and I got goose bumps,” York said. “I felt like I did when I was a senior in high school and I first heard Barry Goldwater: Somebody was saying what I felt. … When he announced that he was thinking about running for president, I had no doubt in my mind who I was for.”

Before Rubio dropped out of the race on March 15, the Florida U.S. senator’s campaign drew in more than $300,000 in individual contributions from Georgia, filings show. His haul included maximum contributions from some well-heeled Atlanta donors, including Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus and John Brock, the chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises.

Clinton, Sanders show fundraising muscle

On the Democratic side of the presidential contest, Clinton continued to rake in money in Georgia.

Reflecting her dominance in the state’s March 1 primary — she defeated Sanders by more than 43 percentage points in Georgia — the former New York senator’s campaign reported more than $1 million in contributions from Georgia during the first quarter.

The Sanders campaign collected more than $600,000 in Georgia from individuals, much of it given in increments smaller than $100.

“I think that’s a general hallmark of the campaign. Sanders supporters are really enthusiastic supporters, they give and they give often because they’re not hitting those upper-level donation limits,” said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University.

The average Georgia donation to the Sanders campaign was $51, the lowest average across all the presidential candidates who participated in the March 1 primary.

Danny Echevarria of Atlanta, a 30-year-old who works in digital marketing, gave the Sanders campaign a total of $215 in early 2016, mainly in $5 increments.

“Hillary Clinton was never in contention for my vote,” said Echevarria, who listed campaign finance and climate change among his top issues this cycle.

“I’ve followed Sanders in the House and Senate for years,” Echevarria said, “and he’s always been a solid progressive representative.”

Clinton notched larger donations from a number of executives from major Atlanta corporations, including Glen Hauenstein, who is slated to become president of Delta Air Lines next week. Also nestled among the list of her campaign donors was Stacey Abrams, the Democratic leader in the Georgia House. She gave the Clinton campaign $250 in February.

Constance Blackmon, a retired researcher who lives in Pine Mountain, gave Clinton more than $1,800.

“I supported her bid in 2008, also,” Blackmon said. “I like her experience. I think she’s the best qualified candidate to run for president in a long time in my memory, and I’m excited about a woman’s perspective being in the White House.”