Clinton tops area donations

2016 presidential bid finding support in Northwest Arkansas

Donors in Northwest Arkansas have contributed almost as much money to Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential bid as to all her Republican rivals combined, federal records show.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who was Clinton’s chief rival in the Democratic primary, also raised more money from the region than any Republican candidate except former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

“That’s somewhat remarkable,” said Rep. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, after being told the figures. Leding is one of two remaining Democrats in the 15-member state House delegation from Benton and Washington counties.

Lance Johnson of Springdale, Washington County chairman for the Republican Party, said Clinton’s drawing on long-term support.

“She has a nucleus of people in Northwest Arkansas, and many of those people can give a whole lot of money,” he said.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, hasn’t received donations because he hasn’t asked for them yet, Johnson said.

“I’ve only received one solicitation, but judging by the number of requests I get for hats, signs and T-shirts, I’ll bet he’ll get a lot of donations when the solicitations come out.”

Seth Mays, spokesman for the Republican Party of Arkansas, said the news surprised him at first, but added Clinton’s success in this region is almost certainly more because of her history than any trend. Many businesses in the region supported her husband, former President Bill Clinton, during his political career when Arkansas was still a predominantly Democratic state, he said.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign reported $269,115 in contributions as of July 21 from the Fayetteville-Rogers-Springdale metropolitan area, according to Federal Election Commission records. Those records were compiled by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. The Fayetteville-Rogers-Springdale Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Benton, Washington and Madison counties in Arkansas plus McDonald County in Missouri.

Clinton’s total compares to $277,804 raised by the 13 Republican primary rivals for president who reported contributions from this region. Four other GOP candidates received no contributions from Northwest Arkansas reported to the Election Commission.

The donations in the nonprofit group’s report are from individuals and businesses to the formal campaigns of the candidates. The figures don’t include, for example, contributions to political action committees that might support a candidate.

More than half the contributions to GOP hopefuls were to Bush: $140,050. The next highest Republican recipient was Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas with $55,236. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson received $42,641, while former Gov. Mike Huckabee reported $31,048.

Donald Trump, the eventual winner of the GOP primary, has collected $16,925. No remaining GOP candidate raised more than Trump.

Those figures must be viewed in light of the fact Trump ran an unusual, self-funded campaign and no primary opponent of his was able to build a consensus against him, said Jay Barth, an author on Arkansas politics and a professor of political science at Hendrix College in Conway.

The Clintons, on the other hand, “have people in that area who have contributed to their political campaigns for decades,” Barth said.

Meanwhile, Sanders raised $73,639. In all, the two Democrats raised $342,754 in Northwest Arkansas or about 23 percent more than all Republicans combined.

“I think it speaks of a couple of things. First, the Clintons still have a lot of ties to Northwest Arkansas,” Leding said.

Bill and Hillary Clinton’s first home in Arkansas was in Fayetteville. They both taught law at the University of Arkansas. Friends from Fayetteville worked in President Clinton’s administration, and many returned home after he left office.

As for Sanders, “he won in the House district I serve by about 20 points,” Leding said. “There are far more Democrats in Northwest Arkansas than the prevailing myth presents.”

Another nonprofit data compiler, the National Institute on Money in State Politics, shows that Clinton received $125,737 of the contributions to her current campaign from Fayetteville. Another $23,373 comes from Bentonville, $22,164 from Rogers and $13,642 from Springdale. The institute also uses Election Commission figures but allows searches for contributions from individual towns.

Donors in Arkansas have contributed $1,289,165 in all to Clinton’s campaign, the Center for Responsive Politics’ figures show. Trump’s total from the state is $82,465, according to the center.