Millions for 14th District race from out of state

With record breaking campaign donations continuing to flow into the 14th District Congressional races, a vast majority of the millions of dollars are coming from out of state.

The top three campaign fundraisers in the 14th District primary races — Marcus Flowers, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Holly McCormack — brought in over 90% of their funds from out of state contributors, according to statistics compiled by OpenSecrets.org.

The top fundraiser this reporting cycle, Democrat Marcus Flowers, drew $3,123,298 from out of state donors, as well as $245,231 from Georgia .

That’s mirrored by the Republican incumbent, Greene, who raised $1,973,778 from out of state donors and $173,297 from Georgia donors.

A third candidate pulling in big bucks, Democrat Holly McCormack, raised a whopping $1,232,747 from out of state donors and $80,698 from Georgia donors.

For the other candidates, the in-state versus out-ofstate contribution margins flip. And that has affected their total take.

For instance, former Rome City Commissioner Wendy Davis, who is running for the Democratic Party nomination, has raised $242,080 — with just over 67% of her total reported contributions this cycle from Georgia. She also brought in $117,401 from out-of-state contributors.

In-state donors backed Republican Jennifer Strahan with 55% of her contributions this cycle, $65,399. In that same cycle, Strahan reported receiving $53,557 from out-of-state contributors.

The contributions listed are just a slice of the money being thrown into this race.

Up to this point, over $17 million dollars has flowed into the district, which hadn’t seen much incumbent opposition until former Rep. Tom Graves announced his retirement in 2019.

For reference, the most Graves ever raised in any of his four election bids was $2 million. He held the office from 2010-2020 and nearing the end of his tenure he was a ranking member of that body.

When the district’s previous longtime congressman, Rep. Phil Gingrey, was shifted into the 11th District in 2010, he raised the comparatively small sum of $1.3 million to win that seat.

The difference is the national-level publicity Greene has garnered since entering office, leading to people across the nation donating for — or against — her reelection bid.

Another item of interest is the top five metro areas where out of state money is coming from.

A majority of Greene’s out of state contributors are located in the Dallas and Houston metro areas and portions of northern California, while Flowers and McCormack are receiving funds from New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., metro areas.

That also applies to the amounts being given. Looking at top campaign contributions by zip code, major backers of Flowers, McCormack and Greene are largely — and not surprisingly — out of state.

However, as you get past the top three money generators, local and regional zip codes begin to appear more regularly in the other candidates’ reports.

Take Davis and Strahan for example. Both, like the top three fundraisers, received notable amounts from the metro-Atlanta area. But their larger instate contributions appear to be coming mainly from within the 14th District.