Posted on February 13, 2020

Latinos Gave Over $23M in 2019 to Democrats in Presidential Race; Sanders Got the Most

Suzanne Gamboa, NBC, February 13, 2020

The first deep dive into Latino political donations found that Bernie Sanders got the most financial support last year. It also found a drop in donations as some candidates, such as Julián Castro, left the race.

Latinos contributed almost $23.7 million to Democratic presidential candidates last year, much of it in small-dollar donations averaging $15.75, according to an in-depth analysis of campaign finance data by Plus Three, a technology company that researched Latinos’ contributions to Democratic presidential candidates.

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According to the data, Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, dominates in the race for Latinos’ dollars, snagging $8.3 million in 2019, or 36 percent of all contributions.

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The analysis also finds that, as candidates leave the race, Latino contributions aren’t yet shifting to other candidates. Candidates don’t appear to be trying to scoop up donors who endorsed their rivals, and Latino contributions are slowing.

“We’ve definitely seen a drop-off in Latino giving in the last quarter,” said Juan Proaño, co-founder and CEO of Plus Three, the first company to conduct an in-depth study of Latino political contributions for a presidential race.

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There’s a lot of distance between Sanders and the next closest candidate, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, who dropped out of the race in November. Even so, O’Rourke managed to out-raise other candidates for the year, at $2.7 million.

O’Rourke is followed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who got $2.1 million; Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, at $2.02 million; Castro — the only Latino who ran, who exited last month — at $1.8 million; former Vice President Joe Biden, at $1.4 million; Andrew Yang, who dropped out Tuesday, at $1.3 million; and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who has also left the race, at $1.3 million.

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Sanders has been trying to build on the strong young Latino following he attracted in 2016. Having won the popular votes in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, he heads into Latino-heavy Nevada, which holds its caucuses on Feb. 22, in position to rake in more money, although Warren and Buttigieg have been working Latinos in the state and Biden remains a favorite with older Latinos.

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Sanders built a large ground game in Iowa aimed at Latino voters. According to an analysis of 32 high-density Latino caucus locations, about 52 percent of votes were for Sanders, compared to 15 percent for Biden, 14 percent for Buttigieg and 11 percent for Warren.

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Castro endorsed Warren in early January soon after he dropped out, and he has been an active surrogate for her. He brought staff, some donors and connections in the Latino community with him. This week, Warren’s campaign launched a five-city Texas tour that started in San Antonio, focused on rallying Latinos.

Data from January aren’t yet available to assess how Castro’s move to Warren has affected her contributions from Latinos.

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As of the end of last year, Buttigieg “was bottoming out in the Latino community,” said Proaño, which he also saw with Harris and Booker before they ran into financial hardship and dropped out.

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