Small-Dollar Donor Contribution Leaders in the 2017 Citywide Elections

William Fowler, CFB Public Relations Aide

05/12/2017

With another filing day upon us, we wanted to take a quick look at what campaign disclosures can tell us so far about New York City’s small-dollar matching funds program. To date, a remarkable 89% of the $21.4 million contributed to candidates running in this year’s citywide elections has come from individual donors. Of the individual contributions, two-thirds were contributed by residents of New York City.

So far, participating candidates¹ in the 2017 election cycle have collected small-dollar contributions from 19,419 city residents, for a total of $1.3 million². For candidates who meet the required thresholds, these contributions may qualify for matching funds, which are administered at a $6-to-$1 rate through the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB). This system can amplify a small contribution of, say, $100 to $700 for participating candidates.

During the six-month disclosure period ending on March 11, Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign for mayor reported receiving contributions from 2,033 unique contributors who gave $175 or less – more than any other candidate in the two-month period. This was followed by Liam McCabe, a candidate for South Brooklyn’s City Council District 43, who reported 246 such contributors.

For this latest disclosure period, McCabe tops all City Council candidates in small donor fundraising efforts. Two other District 43 candidates – John Quaglione and Robert Capano – also appear in the top 10, and another District 43 candidate, Justin Brannan, was the City Council small donations leader in the previous disclosure period, which ended January 11. This suggests a remarkable level of engagement in the race unfolding in District 43.

Top Ten Candidates Ranked by Small Contributions Raised from NYC Residents
(January 12, 2017 – March 11, 2017)

Candidate	Office	No. of small donors (gave $175 or less)	Amount raised from small donors	Pct. of total contributions from small donors
Bill de Blasio	Mayor	2,033	$63,266	16.4%
Liam McCabe	Council (#43)	246	$16,036	35.2%
Carlos Menchaca	Council (#38)	175	$11,935	53.0%
Christopher Marte	Council (#1)	175	$11,354	40.3%
Mary Silver	Council (#2)	166	$10,552	49.5%
Tony Avella	Mayor	162	$13,529	46.4%
Alan Maisel	Council (#46)	153	$14,058	40.6%
Elvin Garcia	Council (#18)	144	$7,595	55.7%
John Quaglione	Council (#43)	143	$17,850	42.1%
Robert Capano	Council (#43)	127	$4,745	30.9%

Many of these candidates raised a significant share of their total contributions from donors who gave $175 or less, which suggests a particular focus on small donors. The candidates on this list who raised the highest percentage of their contributions from small donors are Elvin Garcia (City Council District 18) with 55.7%, Carlos Menchaca (City Council District 38) with 53%, and Mary Silver (City Council District 2) with 49.5%.

For the entire election cycle, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Letitia James maintained their lead gaining the most small-dollar donors to date. De Blasio has nearly doubled his lead this period, accumulating 4,268 donations from individuals who gave only $175 or less, while James has reported contributions from 452 donors. The City Council candidate with the highest number of small donors is Carlina Rivera (City Council District 2), overtaking Melinda Katz (Queens Borough President) since the last disclosure period. In the race for Manhattan’s Council District 2, Silver and Rivera are closely competing to gain the most small-dollar donors.

NYC Small Contribution Leaders in the 2017 Election Cycle
(from January 11, 2014 – March 11, 2017)

Candidate	Office	No. of small donors (gave $175 or less)	Amount raised from small donors	Pct. of total contributions from small donors
Bill de Blasio	Mayor	4,268	$210,973	5.9%
Letitia James	Public Advocate	452	$39,700	6.6%
Carlina Rivera	Council (#2)	446	$27,188	32.0%
Scott Stringer	Undeclared	416	$41,215	2.1%
Melinda Katz	BP (Queens)	405	$43,252	5.8%
Mary Silver	Council (#2)	361	$21,832	36.4%
Carlos Menchaca	Council (#38)	338	$21,815	40.4%
Elvin Garcia	Council (#18)	310	$16,350	38.2%
Sal Albanese	Mayor	305	$25,516	45.1%
Richard David	Council (#28)	290	$15,204	63.7%

Overall, 48,825 individuals have contributed an average of $390 to candidates in all citywide races, accumulating $19 million in total. For City Council seats, the average donation is $198 from 21,900 individuals. The amount raised from individuals ($19 million) far outweighs contributions from committees, unions, and other interest groups ($2.4 million).

Our interactive contribution maps clearly illustrate the benefits of raising money through small donations. As the New York Times has pointed out, these maps highlight how candidates for city offices have raised money from nearly every corner of every neighborhood in all five borough.

This presents a stark contrast to state and federal elections, which lack small-dollar matching programs, and where special interest contributions dominate. For comparison, here is the breakdown of contributions by source to candidates for city office in 2013 compared to contributions to candidates for state legislative offices in 2016.

In an age of “big money” politics, a campaign finance system that empowers everyday voters in this way is truly exemplary.

Additional research generously provided by Steve Romalewski of the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Footnotes:

¹ Analysis only applies to candidates who indicated that they are likely to participate in the matching funds program.
² Small donors for the overall 2017 election cycle are individuals living in New York City who have contributed no more than $175 per candidate during the overall election cycle.
³ Small donors for the latest reporting period (January 11, 2017 through March 11, 2017) are individuals living in New York City who have contributed no more than $175 per candidate during the reporting period.  If any of these contributors provided earlier contributions to each candidate that caused the total amount of their contributions to that candidate to exceed $175, they were excluded from these tallies.

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