Major donors spread the wealth among Democrats
WASHINGTON — Most Democrats haven’t settled on a favorite candidate in their historically large presidential primary field — and the party’s biggest donors are no exception.
At least 7,500 donors have contributed to two or more Democratic contenders in 2019, according to a McClatchy analysis of campaign finance records.
It’s an unusually high number. By comparison, a little more than 1,000 donors had given to multiple Republican White House hopefuls at the same point in the 2016 election cycle, which featured a similarly crowded field.
Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg has supported the most Democrats of any donor so far in the 2020 campaign, cutting checks of $2,800 — the maximum amount allowed for a primary — to 14 candidates.
Six months out from the start of voting, Katzenberg and other major donors are in no rush to line up behind just one candidate in a race that does not feature a clear frontrunner. Instead, they are looking to help several candidates qualify for the debates and stay afloat — for now, at least.
“Jeffrey Katzenberg has longterm friendships with many of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination and has tried to be supportive of all at this stage of the process,” Katzenberg spokesperson Andy Spahn said in a statement.
In a typical presidential contest, candidates try to lock down the support of big donors early in the process. But in a field with more than 20 contenders, donors aren’t fielding those same requests at this point.
“We are not getting pressure to make that exclusive choice, in the same way that campaigns have done in the past,” said Rufus Gifford, who oversaw fundraising for Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Gifford has donated to five 2020 candidates thus far.
So far, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and California Sen. Kamala Harris have shared the most donors in common, with more than 1,000 contributors giving to both candidates this year. Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren have just under 1,000 donors in common, and shared the most overlap in the last fundraising quarter.
Donors said they are eager to see how the early debates play out before narrowing down their options. The second debate will take place over two nights in Detroit next week.