By Cliff Montgomery – Feb. 25th, 2016
Who is buying the 2016 presidential candidates? is here to tell you.
It can be a tough matter to untangle. One doesn’t just count donations from individual people and entities. There are also those somewhat shadowy groups working for White House candidates – so-called ‘outside groups’ like super Political Action Committees (super PACs), leadership PACs, 501(c)(4) ‘dark money’ groups and the like. It’s often quite hard to discover just who happens to be providing the funds for these organizations.
So the Spark has worked to give its readers some understanding of who is donating to whom during the 2016 presidential race.
Today we review the two remaining Democratic hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. On Feb. 29th, we will take a look at the Republicans still in the race.
The raw data on current U.S. presidential hopefuls were released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on January 31st. This info was compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, an watchdog organization which focuses on the use and abuse of money in the U.S. political arena.
Now, let’s take a look at the Democrats…
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State for the duration of President Obama’s first term. She also is a former U.S. senator (D-NY). Ms. Clinton is married to former President Bill Clinton.
She was a much-touted Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, but lost her party’s nomination to then-Senator Barack Obama.
Clinton’s campaign committee has raised $130.4 million for her 2016 presidential bid, according to data released by the FEC on January 31st. Outside groups have raised $57.7 million, according to the January data.
Clinton’s largest outside donors were Priorities USA Action ($50.6 million), Ready PAC ($3.5 million), and Correct The Record ($3.4 million).
Individual contributions appear to be the lifeblood of the Clinton campaign – a full 94% of her funds come from these donations. But it appears that she is popular with more wealthy donors, as 77% of these contributions are large donations (i.e., contributions of at least $200), according to the January release.
One may get an impression of Clinton’s most wealthy backers simply by looking at the FEC data released this January, which revealed those individuals who have donated at least $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton super PAC:
SOROS, GEORGE – Soros Fund Management – On 12/17/15, donated $6,000,000
SABAN, CHERYL – Philanthropist – On 12/11/15, donated $1,500,001
SABAN, HAIM – Saban Entertainment – On 12/11/15, donated $1,500,001
SANDLER, HERBERT M – Not Employed – On 12/18/15, donated $1,500,000
SUSSMAN, DONALD – Paloma Partners Advisors, Inc – On 12/30/15, donated $1,500,000
ABRAHAM, DANIEL – SDA Enterprises – On 12/30/15, donated $1,000,000
SCHWARTZ, BERNARD L – BLS Investments LLC – On 08/21/15, donated $1,000,000
TULL, THOMAS – Legendary Pictures – On 12/08/15, donated $1,000,000
SPIELBERG, STEVEN – Dreamworks Animation – On 06/26/15, donated $1,000,000
SABAN, CHERYL – Not Employed – On 06/29/15, donated $1,000,000
KATZENBERG, JEFFREY – Dreamworks Animation – On 06/26/15, donated $1,000,000
SABAN, HAIM – Saban Entertainment – 06/29/15, donated $1,000,000
SUSSMAN, DONALD – Paloma Partners Management – On 06/30/15, donated $1,000,000
SOROS, GEORGE – Soros Fund Management – On 06/25/15, donated $1,000,000
SANDLER, HERBERT M – Not Employed – On 06/24/15, donated $1,000,000
As of Jan. 31st, Priorities USA Action has received 73 large contributions (i.e., at least $200) from individual donors in 2015-2016.
Bernie Sanders
U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders is a self-declared socialist, which means that he fights for those things that positively frighten America’s wealthy – like Medicare, workers rights and well-funded public schools.
Even though Sanders is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, he often finds some agreement with Democratic Party members – Sanders therefore is running his 2016 presidential campaign under the Democratic Party banner.
In 2006, Sanders was elected to the Senate – he previously served a 16-year stint as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Thus Sanders is the longest-serving political Independent in Congressional history.
As of Jan. 2016, Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign committee has raised $96.3 million – which is a whopping 99.9% of Sanders’ campaign funds. Outside groups raised just less than $45,000.
A full 98% of Sanders’ funds have come from individual donors, which means that individual contributions have been even more important for Sanders as they’ve been for Clinton. Small donations have accounted for 70% of these contributions, and 28% have been large donations (i.e., contributions of at least $200).
The remaining 2% of Sanders’ funds – a total of just over $1.5 million – are from “other” sources, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Here are a few of the leading donors to the Sanders campaign committee:
Alphabet Inc – $98,810
University of California – $33,598
Microsoft Corp – $31,148
Apple Inc – $28,442
Amazon.com – $18,846
US Navy – $15,595
Kaiser Permanente – $15,514
University of Illinois – $14,780
A word about the donations from these organizations: “The money came from the organizations’ PACs, their individual members, employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families,” states the Center for Responsive Politics.
“At the federal level, the organizations themselves did not donate, as they are prohibited by law from doing so,” continues the Center.
“Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates,” added the Center.
It appears that individuals who give large donations to Sanders often are a different breed than those who spend so freely on Clinton. Here is the entire list of those who have – as of Jan. 2016 – given large donations to the Sanders-affiliated Progressive Voters of America, a leadership PAC:
YNTEMA, GEORGE B – Retired – On 07/17/15, donated $5,000
HAMILTON, NANCY M – Retired – On 05/12/15, donated $2,100
YORKIN, PEG – Retired – On 06/17/15, donated $1,120
ROLFE, URSULA T – Not Employed – On 04/17/15, donated $500
SILVERIA, SCOTT – Wafergen Biosystems – On 03/13/15, donated $500
