Out-of-state small donors still chasing Wendy Davis bubble
But Davis still only has just over 1/3 cash on hand of Greg Abbott
It’s been a little while since we reported on Wendy Davis, and how her campaign was not going well:
- Wendy Davis Campaign Mgr abandons ship as poll shows 12-pt Abbott lead
- Texas women running away from Wendy Davis
I had not expected national Dems to keep pouring money into the race, but apparently the small donors around the country still are forking over small donations, perhaps on the misperception that Davis has a strong chance.
The Austin American-Statesman reports that Davis is matching Greg Abbott in current fundraising , but trails badly in the polls and only has 1/3 the cash on hand:
Gubernatorial rivals Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott have each raised just over $11 million since late February, but the Republican attorney general retains a huge $36 million to $13 million cash advantage over the Democratic senator from Fort Worth less than four months before the election.
The fundraising reports, due with the Texas Ethics Commission by midnight Tuesday, gave each of the campaigns something to crow about.
For Abbott, who raised $11.1 million between Feb. 23 and June 30, it is that his $36 million campaign funds constitutes, the campaign said, “the highest cash on hand amount ever reported by a Texas candidate.”
They also touted the fact that, “Greg Abbott’s fund raising is coming from Texas: 95 percent of Abbott’s contributions came from within the state.”
For the underdog Davis, the numbers also represented good news. Despite not budging in the polls so far — Abbott maintains a double-digit advantage — she continues to draw from a very large fundraising base, with many times as many givers as Abbott, which the Davis campaign likes to portray as the domain of fat-cat “insiders” who see Abbott as an investment more than a cause.
The Fort Worth senator’s campaign said that in this last reporting period, Davis had had raised $11.2 million from more than 72,000 contributors; that 75 percent of the contributions were for less than $50, and the average contribution was 105.25.
Davis does have some well-heeled backers, though, as The Dallas Morning News reports, Wendy Davis draws from trial lawyers, labor and Hollywood to boost her campaign:
Democrat Wendy Davis got big contributions from Houston trial lawyers Steve and Amber Mostyn, labor unions and groups supporting abortion rights in her latest campaign report. She also got support from some big names in Hollywood. The Davis for governor campaign’s largest donors were the Mostyns, who gave $500,000 and provided airplane travel valued at another $100,000 from the March primary through June 30….
Among big labor contributions were $250,000 from the Service Employees International Union and $50,000 from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Planned Parenthood, whose president Cecile Richards has been active in supporting the Davis campaign, gave $89,000 for polling and Emily’s List, which supports Democratic women candidates, gave $75,000.
A few large donors for whom the money means nothing, but plenty of small donors chasing an illusion — the Wendy Davis bubble.
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Comments
So I received a political poll phone call on the governor, lieutenant governor race in Texas. It seems their strategy for getting Wendy in is vote straight party line, ohhh and lies and obfuscation. At one point I was asked to evaluate a pro-Wendy statement. As the poor girl started to read it, I started laughing, I told her she didn’t need to bother because I had already read the statement verbatim elsewhere and I wasn’t buying. It was asked several times if I would be voting straight party line, and it seems that the phone call was to gauge my amenability to this idea, or it was a ruse to get out the Wendy talking points.
It seems that some need to fully understand the definition of insanity.
In Lubbock, she tried to blame the current drought on man made global warming and about half of the small group listening to her just shook their heads and looked down at their feet, as if trying to hide their embarrassment for her.
Texas politicians need to stay away from the Ivy League, and yes-siree, that includes both parties. There must be lead, or mercury or, more likely bullsh!t, in the water up there.
The last Democrat Gov’nr we had down here, Ol’ Ma Richards, knew that you couldn’t talk like Austin outside of Austin.
“… trial lawyers, labor and Hollywood…”
Precisely the three main groups Texans trust THE LEAST.
Delusional is as delusional does.