New Mexicans donated more than $381,000 to three presidential candidates in August, according to fundraising and spending reports filed Tuesday.
NMID took a quick cruise through the latest numbers for New Mexico, and here’s what we learned.
The big picture: Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton continues to outraise Republican Donald Trump, with Libertarian and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson trailing both the major party candidates.
Clinton raised nearly $240,000, down from July, to Trump’s $116,000 and Johnson’s $25,000. Green Party candidate Jill Stein has raised less than $5,000 from New Mexicans. Some of those number might sound big, but it’s important to remember that New Mexicans are lagging in their presidential donations behind previous campaigns, as New Mexico In Depth reported last month.
Here’s a look at fundraising by month for the candidates:
The big names: Republican House Speaker Don Tripp and his wife, Rosalind, each donated $2,700 to Trump’s campaign. David King, a Sandia Park rancher, gave $5,400 to Trump in two donations. Albuquerque lawyer Don Bruckner gave $2,700 to Johnson.
In total, Trump received 15 $2,700 donations, while Clinton received a dozen and Johnson just the one from New Mexicans in August. That’s the maximum the candidates may receive for the general election.
And the number of individual New Mexico donations to Trump declined from July, while Clinton’s increased.
Here’s a look:
On the payroll: The Trump campaign paid Todd Johnson $6,500 for field consulting. Johnson, a former political director for the New Mexico GOP, started a Trump4NM Twitter account earlier this month.
The Clinton campaign paid political consultant Scott Forrester, the campaign’s state director, $5,800 plus $60 for phone costs.
And Johnson paid his former gubernatorial staffer Kelly Ward, of Albuquerque, $12,000 for fundraising, and Tom Mahon, listing an Albuquerque address, $2,600 for event coordination.