The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Small donors boost Trump, but big money still elusive
Republican pulls in more than Clinton in Georgia for first time.
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has invigorated a new group of Republican donors to close a yawning fundraising gap in Georgia with Democrat Hillary Clinton. But he continues to struggle to win over some of the state’s most prolific, and deep-pocketed, contributors.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of Federal Election Commission records released this week shows Trump outpaced Clinton’s fundraising in Georgia in June, the first time he has done so this campaign. But the reticence of the moneyed elites he once trashed continues to haunt him.
“You have a lot of donors that
have historically given to the Republican nominee who only know Donald Trump through what they’ve seen in the media since they haven’t had a chance to meet him personally,” said Eric Tanenblatt, an influential GOP fundraising bundler who skipped Trump’s last Atlanta fundraiser. “And I believe it has had an impact.”
Yet the New York businessman’s support among small-dollar donors has soared as he fights to win over the Georgia GOP’s upper crust.
After pouring millions of his own fortune into his campaign during the primary — and deriding opponents who had to rely on big-moneyed interests — he’s had to shift his focus to keep up with Clinton’s sprawling fundraising network.
He’s catching up in Georgia, thanks partly to a fundraiser in mid-June headlined by Gov. Nathan Deal and U.S. Sen. David Perdue that helped Trump raise more than $280,000 from Georgia donors for the month. That’s after meager Georgia hauls in April and May that took in less than $50,000 overall during the final GOP primary stretch run.
Only a handful of supporters — including Phil Wilheit Jr., whose family is close to Deal — gave Trump the maximum of $2,700 in June. Instead, more than 80 percent of Trump’s Georgia donors in June came from contributors who gave him $250 or less, which campaigns tend to see as a sign of strength among grassroots supporters.
“I wanted to help out any way I could. And $250 was about the most I could give,” said Ryan Bowersox, a first-time donor who owns a coffee shop in Milton. “The country is in trouble, and somebody needs to do something. And Trump can — he is a true outsider who threatens the establishment’s control of Washington.”
Clinton’s June total of more than $260,000 in donations in Georgia came as her campaign boosted its fundraising efforts in the state. She raised about $150,000 in Georgia in both April and May, though she hasn’t visited Atlanta since February. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, trekked to Atlanta for an event the same week as Trump’s visit.
The vast majority of Clinton’s donors — roughly 98 percent — donated $250 or less to the Democrat’s cause. Hundreds forked over pocket change — some just a buck or two to help her presidential bid.
“Every dollar counts,” said Amy Glover-Giusto, an Alpharetta retiree who dipped into her wallet to give $10 to the Democrat. “I’ve always been a Hillary supporter, and I know she will, by far, make a far better president than Donald Trump.”
A wealthy wall
Trump has had worse luck enticing donors at the other end of the giving spectrum to dig into their wallets and help the “dark money” nonprofits that can receive unlimited donations. These super PACs boost candidates by funding waves of advertisements, field operatives and get-out-the-vote networks to reinforce a campaign.
Nine of Georgia’s top 10 Republican donors of the 2016 cycle had not given money to Trump or the super PACs boosting his campaign through June, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign finance. Of the more than $7.3 million those donors and their spouses have contributed this election cycle, only $50,000 went to Trump or his causes.
Compare that with this point in the 2012 presidential race, when Georgia’s top nine Republican donors had collectively given Romney’s campaign and a pro-Romney super PAC nearly $1.7 million.
It’s unclear why these Peach State millionaires and billionaires have held back on Trump, as many declined to comment or did not respond to requests from the AJC. Several of those who did gave no indication why they made their choice.
Among those is Richard Jackson, the chief executive of an Alpharetta-based health care staffing company who has donated more than $600,000 this cycle to other Republican candidates and causes. A Jackson spokesman said he has not given to Trump’s campaign and does not plan to do so.
Richard Skinner of the Sunlight Foundation, a transparency advocacy group, said wealthy donors, many of whom made their money in business, may be turned off by Trump’s populist rhetoric.
“There are probably a lot of Republican business types who don’t like Trump’s policies, don’t like Trump’s attacks on large donors, don’t like Trump’s views on things like trade,” Skinner said. “And then I imagine there are some maybe who just don’t like him personally.”
Clinton has a similar problem with big-dollar Democrats in Georgia, though she’s fishing in a smaller pool of donors in this reliably conservative state.
The super PAC that backs her has thus far raised only about $60,000 from Georgia donors, including actress Jane Fonda. Her campaign’s joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee netted about $569,000 from Georgians through June, with an average donation of about $455.
The fundraising totals could soon dramatically change.
The data runs only through the end of June and does not reflect a few big events, including President Barack Obama’s August fundraiser for Clinton at a swanky northwest Atlanta home and former President Bill Clinton’s Wednesday visit.
Of course, it also does not include next week’s visit to Atlanta by Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, which will cost donors $2,700 a pop to attend and $100,000 to co-chair. Among the co-chairs listed on the invitation are Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, who is by far the state’s biggest political donor this election cycle.
Still, the reluctance from other Republican moneyed elite has had a side effect: It has helped other GOP groups pad their bank accounts. Georgia’s top GOP donors collectively gave the Republican National Committee — which is doing heavy lifting for Trump and down-ticket candidates — more than $1.2 million through June.
More Georgia donors funneled their money to groups squarely aimed at keeping the House and Senate in Republican hands. Marcus, for one, gave $1 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. And others have poured money into the campaigns of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson and other lawmakers facing a November vote.
It also means that unlike the 2012 race, when deep-pocketed super PACs reinforced Romney’s campaign, there are no powerful outside groups waiting in the wings for Trump. The biggest super PACs backing Trump’s campaign have less than $4 million in combined cash at their disposal — about one-tenth of what Clinton’s group has in the bank.