Trump leading in Texas on cash
President has raised almost twice asmuch in donations as Biden
It’s still unclear whether President Donald Trump or Democrat Joe Biden is winning Texas at the ballot box, but when it comes to campaign fundraising there is no doubt who is dominating the Lone Star State.
Trump has raised nearly twice as much money from Texas donors as Biden. Federal Election Commission records show Trump has raised $53 million from people in Texas, while Biden has raised just over $28 million.
Trump’s haul from Texas makes the state his second-best fundraising state in the nation after California, where he pulled in $58 million. And his Texas fundraising is light-years ahead ofwhat he did in 2016, when he raised almost $16 million from individual donors in the state.
“This isn’t surprising,” said Samantha Zager, the deputy national press secretary for the Trump campaign. “Texas is not in play for Joe Biden and never has been because Texans would never vote for Biden’s radical agenda, including a call to end the oil industry by 2025.”
Texans have made substantial contributions to Biden, but not anywhere close to what he’s getting in other big states. California has led the way with $127 million , according to the FEC. New Yorkers have given more than $63 million.
Biden has raised more in Texas
than Hillary Clinton raised in 2016, when she pulled in almost $23 million from Texas.
Democrats say all that Texas money Trump has been raising has been being shipped out of state, while the Biden campaign has been using some of its money on campaign ads and high-profile visits to Texas — including Friday’s visit from vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
“Donald Trump has used Texas like an ATM piggy bank while governing against the interest of Texas time after time,” Texas Democratic Party spokesman Abhi Rahman said. “Look at the money Donald Trump has taken out of Texas and into other states.”
The fundraising advantage for Trump doesn’t surprise Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. He said while the Texas electorate is becoming more diverse, there is still far more money in wealthy white communities.
“So even as Texas becomes increasingly competitive, Republicans will continue to outraise Democrats,” he said.
But Jillson said that if this race is as close as some polls show and Republicans lose more seats in Congress, Republicans are going to have to rethink that strategy and reinvest more of that Texas money back into Texas to play defense.
No Texas city has played a bigger role financially for both candidates than Houston. Donors who listed their residence as Houston gave a combined $11 million to the two candidates. That’s more money than the entire states of Louisiana and Oklahoma have contributed to presidential candidates. While Trump has pulled in $5.6 million from Houston donors, Biden is not far behind, with $5.4 million.
In most Texas cities, Trump has been able to outraise Biden, but there are two big exceptions.
In Austin, one of Texas’s bluest cities, Biden has raised twice as much as Trump has. Donors there gave Biden $5.3 million, compared with $2.3 million for Trump. And in Dallas, Biden has raised $4.4 million, compared with $3.9 million for Trump.
While Trump lost big in San Antonio in 2016, the city remains his third-best fundraising hub in the state. He and Biden combined to raise $4.2 million, with Trump getting $2.7 million of that.
For Trump, oil country has been a lopsided advantage, with Midland and Odessa both among his top 10 fundraising cities in Texas. Combined donors in those cities have given $1.8 million. Neither of those cities is among Biden’s top 20 donor cities and have combined to give him about $109,000.
Trump has made the oil and gas industries a key part of his message, especially when campaigning in Texas. During a visit to Midland and Odessa in July, Trump warned that with Biden in office, oil and gas companies would be in trouble. It’s a message that has gotten only louder after the final presidential debate recently, when Biden said his plan to combat climate change calls for transitioning away from fossil fuels. Biden later clarified that he meant over numerous years and not immediately.
“If the voters in some places missed Joe Biden’s dog whistle on oil and gas the other night, the people out in Midland and Odessa surely didn’t,” said state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston.