Small Donor Contribution Leaders for 2017 Elections

Thursday, September 22, 2016
The Presidential election currently has our full attention, but we’re rounding the corner on NYC’s 2017 citywide elections. Candidates for city office have been ramping up their fundraising and their campaigns will take center stage in just a few months.
 
Given the unprecedented sums of money flooding our electoral process, the City’s small dollar public matching funds program is more important than ever. The City’s program, which the New York Times recently described as “one of the most progressive in the United States,” diminishes the role of big money contributions by amplifying small donations from average New Yorkers.
 
The matching funds encourage candidates to raise money from their constituents, the residents of New York City, because only contributors from city residents will be matched with public funds. Indeed, so far, candidates for office have received 69 percent of their contribution from donors living in the five boroughs. The effects of this incentive are clear in the new, interactive contribution maps we’ve published at http://maps.nyccfb.info. As the Times points out, these maps highlight how candidates for City office raise money from nearly every corner of every neighborhood in all five boroughs.
 
For the most recent disclosure period (statement 5, which covers the period from January 12 to July 11, 2016) Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign reported the strongest small dollar fundraising effort with 691 such contributors (who gave $175 or less). That was followed by Carlina Rivera, a candidate in the race for City Council district 2, who reported 226 such supporters.
 
The candidates who raised the most from small-dollar contributors (among contributors who gave in statement 5). 
 
In total, candidates have collected more than 7,300 small contributions from city residents in the 2017 cycle. Candidates have claimed that more than $507,000 of those contributions are eligible for matching funds. Those contributions could be matched with more than $3 million in public funds, if those candidates qualify for the matching funds program,
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Letitia James lead the cumulative small contributor count for the 2017 election cycle. As of July 11th, de Blasio reported contributions from 698 NYC residents of $175 or less. At second place, James reported collecting small contributions from 392 New Yorkers.
 
Top small dollar contributors so far in 2017 (for the entire cycle).