Local Donors Pour $900K+ Into Prez Race

Elizabeth Warren may no longer be running — but she still sits comfortably atop the list of presidential candidates to whom New Haveners have donated over the past year.

Hamden donors, meanwhile, have directed most of their contributions to Warren’s progressive erstwhile rival, Bernie Sanders.

According to the Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) online individual contributions database, New Haveners contributed over $506,360 to 22 different presidential candidate committees and single-candidate Super PACs between Jan. 1, 2019 and Feb. 12, 2020.

That’s the most recent data that the continuously updated online database had as of Thursday.

When adding in financial contributions made to other candidate and political action committees — to Congressional campaigns, for example, or to the Democratic National Committee more broadly — New Haveners donated more than $1.5 million over the past roughly 14 months to various national political advocacy groups.

During that same period, Hamden residents have donated $419,665 to presidential candidates and over $900,000 to all national political campaign committees.

The numbers can be turned and viewed from a multiplicity of angles. They reveal how easily a few deep-pocketed donors can fill campaign coffers, as well as how New Haven and Hamden Democrats making small-dollar donations have rallied overwhelmingly behind Sanders and Warren. They also reveal that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) appears to be the favorite beneficiary of higher-dollar local Democratic contributors.

Warren Leads With $118K+ In New Haven Donations

Warren raised a total of $118,589.43 from New Haven donors during the 13-month period. Around $45,000 of those donations have been made directly to her Warren For President, Inc. candidate committee, while the remaining amount have gone to that same committee but through the popular Democratic candidate fundraising site, ActBlue.

In second place on the New Haven list is Donald Trump, who has raised a total of $104,735.27 from New Haven campaign donors during that same period. Some of those donations have trickled in to Trump’s candidate committee, Donald J. Trump For President, Inc., and to a separate Trump-specific PAC, Trump Make America Great Again Committee. Almost all the money came in one full swoop on Nov. 7, 2019 when Madison Towers, LLC donated $100,000 to the Trump Super PAC, America First Action, Inc.

Madison Towers LLC is a holding company owned by the New Haven-based landlord and developer Sholom Andrusier, who owns the New Haven Towers apartment complex on Park Street and is currently building a new apartment tower at 129 York St.

“I do not have a comment on that at this time,” Andrusier told the Independent when asked about his contribution to the Trump Super PAC.

The FEC caps individual donations to candidate committees at $2,800 per election. The government imposes no limits on how much money individuals can give to Super PACs, which are technically required to make only ​“independent expenditures” that are not in coordination with a particular candidate or campaign.

Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont, has raised $99,927.39 from New Haveners through his Bernie 2020 candidate committee.

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who recently dropped out of the presidential race, came in at a distant fourth in raising $36,410.31 from New Haveners during that same period.

And former Vice President Joe Biden, who appears to have entered a two-person race for the Democratic nomination with Sanders following his Super Tuesday comeback, raised $33,309.56 from New Haveners during that same period.

Progressives Take Hamden

In Hamden, a wave of Sanders support that has helped transform local politics also helped the senator lead the pack in both total dollars raised and number of individual contributions.

Between the beginning of 2019 and Feb. 5, 2020, Sanders raised $19,593 from Hamden residents. $11,131 of that total was made to his candidate committee directly, and the remaining $8,462 was through the ActBlue.

Sanders’ progressive rival Elizabeth Warren trailed him by less than $1,000. In the same time period, she raised $18,672 in total.

Together, the two most progressive candidates in the field lead by a wide margin. Trump trailed them at $12,350, and the next Democratic presidential candidate was Biden, at $8,087. Harris trailed him at $6,928. Buttigieg was hot on her heels, bringing in $6,831. Michael Bennet, who remained at the very bottom of the polls until he dropped out of the race the day after the New Hampshire primary, came in a surprise seventh at $5,139. He edged out more popular underdog candidates Amy Klobuchar and Andrew Yang by over $2,000.

Sanders: 4,415 Total New Haven Contributions

While Sanders may be third in terms of total dollars raised from New Haveners, he has brought in by far the most number of individual contributions from city donors over the past roughly 14 months.

His candidate committee has received 4,415 donations from New Haveners since the beginning of 2019.

That’s well over 1,000 more than Warren, who brought in 3,298 individual donations during that time.

Coming in third is California U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the presidential race months ago, but nevertheless earned 835 different contributions from New Haven donors during that period.

And in fourth is Biden, who’s candidate committee has earned 658 different New Haven contributions.

Trump, meanwhile, has brought in a total of 77 different contributions from the heavily Democratic Elm City.

In Hamden, Sanders also crushed the rest of the field in the race for the most individual donations. He got 951, while Warren, the next Democrat, received 459. When it came to number of individual donors, the two progressives were closer. 202 separate people donated to Sanders’ candidacy, while 168 donated to Warren.

Donald Trump, too, had a strong showing when it came to number of individual donations, with 474. Nearly half of those contributions came from one person.

Joseph Livi donated to the president 230 times. He made 227 of those donations to his Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. candidate committee, and 3 to his Trump Make America Great Again Committee.

Biden and Harris took fourth and fifth place, with 237 and 203 donations, respectively. Biden had 101 individual donors (third highest), and Harris had 90 (fourth).

Smallest Contributions

Of the candidates still in the race, Sanders also has earned the smallest average donations from his New Haven base. The average New Haven contribution to the Sanders campaign over the past roughly 14 months has been $22.63.

The average donation to his recently departed progressive rival, Warren, has been $35.96.

The average donation to Biden has been $50.62.

And the average donation to Trump, skewed upwards by the one-time $100,000 contribution by Andrusier, has been $1,360.20.

The candidate with the lowest average donation from New Haveners is no longer in the race. That’s former HUD Secretary Julian Castro. He earned a total of $7,920.55 from 184 different New Haven contributions, bringing his campaign’s average donation number to $19.34.

In Hamden, with the help of Livi’s donations, Trump had the third-lowest average donation size of all the candidates at $26.60. Counting Livi’s 230 donations as a single donation doubles Trump’s average donation, yielding an average of $50.41.

Sanders came in second for the lowest average donation, at $20.60. Yang edged him out by only 43 cents, landing at an average of $20.17 from among 104 individual donations.

Buttigieg had the highest average donation of all the candidates at $128.88. Bennet followed with an average of $119.51 from 4 separate donors who made 43 donations. Beto O’Rourke was next, with a significantly lower average: $48.22.

Top Local Contributors By $ And By # Of Donations

After Andrusier’s Madison Towers, the New Haveners who have contributed the most to various presidential campaigns over the past roughly 14 months are former New York Times Supreme Court correspondent Linda Greenhouse ($6,600, split between Warren and former candidate New York U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand), Thomas James Francis ($6,531, all for former candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang), John Ploss ($6,000, all for Sanders), Bill St. John ($6,000, all for Yang), and Sharon Milikowsky ($5,600, all for former candidate and Minn. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar).

The list of New Haveners who have given the most times to various presidential candidates since the beginning of 2019 includes Pamela Fahey (183 donations, split between Klobuchar and Sanders), Sydney Perry (153 donations, to a range of Democratic candidates, including former candidates Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke, Castro, and Harris), Richard Weingarten (130 donations, mostly to Warren), and Walter Goclowski (110 donations, nearly entirely to Sanders).

Hamden did not feature any six-figure donors. Alison Bardrick was the town’s top donor to presidential campaigns. She gave a total of $2,950, all of it to Warren’s candidate committee, across 13 separate donations. James Boyer followed with his $2,855 in donations to Bennet. The total was spread across only seven separate contributions.

Gerald Anderson was next. He gave $2,018 to Cory Booker and $677 to Sanders for a total of $2,695. Richard Penna followed. He gave $2,210 to Buttigieg and $95 to Harris.

All-star donor Livi came in fifth, with his 230 donations to Trump totaling $2,212. Jacqueline Goldsby followed with a total of $2,160.59, all of it to Buttigieg. Next was David Fox, who gave $1,975 to Sanders. John Schowalter followed with $1,920, most of it to Warren, and the remaining $250 to Harris. Gefeng Zhu took ninth place with $1,433.50 to Trump. Vicki Seitz came in tenth. She gave $1,375, most of it to Warren, and some to Harris.

Livi took first place for individual donations with his grand total of 230. Carol Christmas followed with 153 to Sanders. Justin Hayes was next with 73 to Sanders, followed by Andrea Nezat (61 to Sanders), Christopher Atchley (51 to Sanders), Zhu (47 to Trump), Elizabeth Johnson (17 to Warren, 2 to Harris, and 26 to Julian Castro), Kristin Johnson (29 to Castro, 10 to Harris, and 6 to Warren), Patricia Connery (41 to Sanders), and Gerald Anderson with six to Bernie and 33 to Booker.

Beyond The Presidential Race

New Haveners have not given to just presidential campaigns over the past roughly 14 months.

Of all national political committees that received local contributions during that time period, the one to receive the most dollars from New Haveners is the DCCC. That fundraising committee for Democratic congressional candidates raised $215,570.50 across 322 different donations from New Haveners.

After Warren, Trump’s Super PAC, and Sanders, the next largest recipient of New Haven national political dollars since the beginning of 2019 was the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which received $71,502 across 193 local donations.

In fourth place is the Democratic National Committee, which received $47,964 across 145 different donations.

And in sixth, after Klobuchar’s Amy For America committee, is the fundraising arm for New Haven’s own long-time congresswoman, Friends of Rosa DeLauro, which raised $35,850 across 195 different local donations.

Like in New Haven, Hamdenites also donated a significant amount of money to non-presidential candidate committees and PACs. Like in New Haven, the DCCC led the charge with $26,878 across 816 separate donations. The conservative PAC WinRed, which funds Republicans, came in second with $22,763 across 282 separate donations. Sanders and Warren followed. Then came DeLauro’s candidate committee with $15,288 from 187 donations.

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478’s PAC followed. The union represents heavy machinery operators and mechanics in Connecticut. The PAC is registered in Hamden.

The DSCC followed with a total of $10,696. Then came Progressive Turnout Project , which is a PAC dedicated to getting Democrats to the polls.