Looking for information about support for Congressman Walz's re-election or for his challenger from the First District's significant medical community, we came across some startling statistics about contributions in the race at Open Secrets.
We've noted before that Davis's supporters have contracted Davis Misinformation Syndrome. Severe cases of the disorder cause sufferers to engage in wishful thinking and to pen letters to local editors in which they claim Davis enjoys the greatest grassroots support as well as the highest dollar amount and number of individual contributions.
Open Secrets reveals how misled that thinking is:
Instruction on HOW TO READ THIS TABLE from the site:
"Candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives typically get the majority of their campaign dollars from donors within their home state. Senate candidates show a variety of patterns, depending on the size of the state and the wealth of its economic base. Candidates in states like New York, California and Texas may get most of their money from their constituents, while those in the most sparsely populated states may get nearly all their money from out of state.
As a general rule, incumbents get more out-of-state money than challengers, a reflection of their status as members of Congress and the wider circles in which they travel. Challengers and newcomers are rarely well known outside their state, so their ability to raise funds beyond their district is more limited."
The giving patterns to Walz go against that pattern: fully 90 percent of the large individual contributions ($200 and over) are from Minnesota, contrasting with Davis's 69 percent. Where the money is coming from inside Minnesota also varies: Walz's top zip code is Rochester (55902) which gave $47,082 to Walz; for Davis, it's $31,950 from Wayzata (55391).
A resident of Mankato, Walz has banked $85,232 from the metropolitan Rochester area, while Rochester resident Davis has received slightly less than half of that at $37,747. These figures all reflect giving as of September 2.
As of July 28, the same employer for individual large contributors (Mayo Clinic) tops each man's list, but the contrast there is even more pointed. Walz, a public school teacher, received $37,320 from Mayo Clinic employees, while Davis, now on-leave from Mayo, received only $12,101. [We'll be adding in figures from the pre-primary reports, but a cursory glance suggests that there won't be much change unless we deviate from the Center for Responsive Politics' methodology and throw Davis's self-funding into the mix. As it is, it looks like three out of four doctors' dollars have gone to Walz's cash-on-hand].
Davis's supporters also like to whine about how Walz supposedly receives most of his contributions from PACs, though Open Secret's Total Raised and Spent page reveals a different picture.
Actually, 59 percent, or $1,349,132, of Walz's war chest has come from individual contributors, while 69 percent ($489,326) of Davis's funds are from individuals. Walz received 33 percent, or $767,396 from PACs, while Davis's next largest source of cash was his own self funding at 26 percent or $187,360.
And apparently, Open Secrets didn't count Davis's re-paying, then re-loaning himself $124,000 in that accounting. It does make a difference in how one views the take reported by Open Secret v. those at the FEC. Open Secrets's page lists Davis's fundraising take at $714,200 while those looking at the FEC pre-primary report are greeted with the figure of $838,203.44 for the cycle. The FEC figure certainly looks more superficially impressive.
Want to make sure Tim Walz keeps his grassroots edge? Consider contributing here by September 30, and signing up to volunteer during the final weeks of the campaign.
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