State Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, first met Hillary Clinton when they did a fly-around campaign tour of Georgia with then-Gov. Zell Miller during her husband’s initial run for president.
When the former first lady and secretary of state announced her second presidential bid this year, Smyre flew to New York City for the campaign kickoff and chipped in $2,700.
“That name recognition, it cuts both ways,” Smyre said. “But I’d rather have it than not have it.”
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of newly released Federal Election Commission data shows that Clinton and Republican former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush parlayed their name recognition and deep ties to party infrastructure into big money from Georgians.
Clinton took home $606,000 from Georgia, while Bush raised $319,000 — much of it in maximum $2,700 increments.
Super PACs’ report still coming
The totals, which include money raised through June 30, do not include candidates' unlimited-money Super PACs, which will not report their donors until the end of the month. Bush's Right to Rise PAC, which is taking on much of the traditional campaign infrastructure, announced it had raised a staggering $103 million in the first half of the year. Taking allied outside groups into account, Bush and Clinton easily lead their respective fields in fundraising nationally.
The closest Republican, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, raised $145,000 in Georgia. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson raised $140,000, and Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz raised $100,000. Hundreds of Georgians gave small amounts to Carson and Cruz, indicating a strong grass-roots backing.
The 2008 Georgia GOP primary winner, former Arkanasas Gov. Mike Huckabee, raised just $18,000 from 22 donors. Businessman Donald Trump, who leads in some national polls, pulled in just $1,750 from three Georgians — though he has vowed to self-finance.
On the Democratic side, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $36,000 from Georgia, while former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley took in $11,000.
Big names behind biggest fundraisers
For the legacy candidates, their families’ deep ties to the state are evident in their donor lists.
Clinton’s donors include former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn; his daughter, nonprofit executive and former Senate candidate Michelle Nunn; former Attorney General Thurbert Baker; former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin; and former Secretary of State Cathy Cox. Media mogul Ted Turner chipped in, too.
Among Bush’s backers are Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, former Senate and gubernatorial candidate Guy Millner and former George H.W. Bush administration official and prominent GOP fundraiser Eric Tanenblatt.
Former U.S. Sen. Mack Mattingly, who gave $2,700 along with his wife, said he has been a longtime friend of Bush’s and has encouraged him to run for the past three or four years.
“He’s got the same principles I’ve got as far as what to do in government, and he’s a conservative and understands all the issues,” Mattingly said. “The governors are really the best-trained of most of these people that are running right now.”
Establishment isn’t a draw for everybody
But the other Republicans are getting substantial support in Georgia.
Mark Dodson of Atlanta, who owns his own mortgage bank, is backing Rubio. A top fundraiser for Mitt Romney’s 2012 bid for president, Dodson believes the GOP cannot repeat past mistakes in choosing an establishment candidate.
“Establishment Republicans cannot win,” Dodson said. “Gerald Ford, George H.W. (Bush), Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney — every establishment candidate like Jeb Bush, they can’t win. History proves that.”
Rubio, he said, is different.
“We have to have someone in there that can get stuff done,” Dodson said. “He’s the best guy.”
Most importantly, however, is that Dodson believes Rubio can beat Clinton in a general election.
“That has to be the most important thing to anybody,” he said. “We better get behind the person that can win, but in this case he’s also the one I like.”
Some give and give again — to others
Not every Georgia voter is ready to choose a side, though. Dozens of Georgians contributed to multiple candidates. In many cases, some combination of Carson, Cruz, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky attracted contributions from the same donor.
There were even several cases of a single donor giving to both a Republican and a Democratic candidate.
While there have been few official endorsements from Georgia's Republican political elite thus far — Gov. Nathan Deal gave a split endorsement to four current and former governors — state Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens padded Cruz's account.
Hudgens, a Georgia co-chairman of Cruz’s campaign, has been outspoken in his revulsion for the Affordable Care Act, and Cruz has been the law’s most high-profile antagonist in Congress.
“He’s shaken up Washington, D.C.,” Hudgens said.
“I think Ted Cruz holds a lot of the same values that Donald Trump does,” Hudgens added. “But he’s a lot more diplomatic in the way he says it than Donald.”
Dissatisfaction fuels gifts to alternatives
Carson does not attract big names, but in his first bid for office he has galvanized some voters who are fed up with both parties.
Jacqueline Locarnini, a business owner from Powder Springs who gave $1,150 to Carson, said she likes the idea of a fresh approach and thinks the Republicans should do more to meet Democrats in the middle on issues such as gay marriage, the environment and immigration.
She backs Carson “because he’s not a politician and because I think he’ll try to do the right thing and not the political thing. I think it’s been too much of the Republicans and far right only looking at their agenda.”
A similar sense of frustration from the left is powering Sanders’ campaign.
Georgia Tech biology professor Marc Weissburg gave $250 because of Sanders’ advocacy on “income and wealth equity.”
Weissburg said President Barack Obama has not followed through on promises for the liberal base, whereas Sanders has a stronger record coming in.
As for Clinton?
“I see her as being captured by the very interests I believe have the worst influence in the country at the moment,” Weissburg said.
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