With the 2016 presidential election less than three months away, the quest for money continues to define both presidential candidates. Donald Trump’s fundraising apparatus originally lagged behind his rival Hillary Clinton, but in the past few months it has picked up; his campaign says it brought in $80 million in July, just behind the $90 million Clinton raised.
A lot of media attention is paid to the few mega-donors who give millions to Super PACs and various party-affiliated election committee. But what about the amount given to the presidential candidate’s official campaign? By law, individuals can donate a maximum of $2,700 to the official campaign committee and must identify their employer. Which companies have the most employees donating to Trump or Clinton?
Coins2Day used OpenSecrets, a non-partisan project tracking money in politics, which compiles data from the Federal Election Commission. The totals below include employees’ donations and donations from the companies’ PACs.
Hillary Clinton
Two universities are among the top Clinton donors — Harvard and the University of California. Both of these schools, along with academics in general, tend to be seen as liberal. The UC system was also a top donor for the Obama administration in 2012.
Employees of Alphabet(GOOG), the parent company of Google (GOOGL), gave more than $426,000. While Google’s leadership hasn’t endorsed a candidate, in general, Silicon Valley has gravitated towards Democrats, especially in this election. Although Alphabet CEO Larry Page and Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt haven’t donated to Clinton, they both were donors to Obama’s 2009 Inauguration.
Morgan & Morgan, the third company on the list, is a Tampa Bay area law firm, which has been described as the country’s largest personal injury law firm. John Morgan, who leads the firm, is a long-time Democratic rainmaker but he’s also given generously to Republicans, notes the Tampa Bay Times. According to OpenSecrets, all of the money flowing from Morgan & Morgan comes from individual donations, not a PAC.
Three major banks appear further down the list—JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America, with employees donating from each bank donating more than $245,000. During the primary season especially, Clinton was accused of being unduly influenced by Wall Stree t and the financial services industry. Seeing these names at the top of the list of her donors isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about that.
Donald Trump
Trump’s donor list doesn’t include as many big companies, and the total haul is relatively small, compared to Clinton’s numbers. During the primary, Trump said that he was financing his own campaign, so he didn’t begin seriously raising money until he had already snagged the Republican nomination in June.
Still, his list offers some clues as to the difficulty Trump has had in broadening his appeal. Bank of America and Wells Fargo appear on his list of donors, though, it is a fraction of the amount flowing to Clinton.
Interestingly, the federal government is the number one employer on Trump’s list. Several departments within the government, including the Navy and the Defense Department, also appear. Despite receiving five draft deferments himself and attacking a Goldstar family, Trump still enjoys support of the rank-and-file in the military, notes the Washington Post. National security leaders, including those who served in Republican administrations, have opposed T rump
American Airlines group is near the top of Trump’s list, with how many donations. American Airlines CEO Douglas Parker hasn’t donated personally to Trump, but he has given to several Republicans in the past few years. Also, the company’s headquarters are in the conservative stronghold of Dallas, Texas.
As for Snow Leopard, the company also appears on the OpenSecret’s list of top contributors from the state of Alaska. According to the FEC filing, two Snow Leopard employees, Eric and Eileen Behr, donated to Trump. State of Alaska records show Snow Leopard to be a giftware retail company in Anchorage. Coins2Day left a message for Snow Leopard and received an e-mail from someone purporting to represent Snow Leopard; the woman said that Eric and Eileen Behr are members of the “Savage Nation” — the name given to fans of conservative radio host Michael Savage, himself a big Trump supporter.
Bernie Sanders
Though Sanders has dropped out of the race and is supporting Clinton, given his famed ability to raise money without relying on a SuperPAC it seemed worthwhile to take a look at where all of it was coming from. The top of the list is Alphabet. Apple is in the top five too, as is Microsoft. Given the liberal nature of Silicon Valley and the Pacific Northwest, it shouldn’t come as surprise that employees of companies located there Felt the Bern. The University of California saw big support for Sanders as well.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Donald Trump’s last name as Drumpf. Coins2Day regrets the error.
