Donald Trump had already gone national. All of his rivals are trying to build from their home turf up.
That's the biggest lesson from new data disclosed by the main Republican online fundraising platform this week, which provided fresh insight about the GOP presidential candidates’ financial strengths, including the places where they appear to be resonating most with voters.
Trump has the most donors by far on the platform, known as WinRed, which filed its fundraising report with the Federal Election Commission detailing donations from January through June that flowed through WinRed on the way to the campaigns. But everyone had their own personal hot spots detailing where (and who) is providing the foundation for their campaigns.
An analysis of donor ZIP codes to each of the top candidates, most of whom are expected to participate in this month’s first primary debate, showed where these candidates are earning support among grassroots donors.
Trump’s southern strongholds
Former President Donald Trump has built up a large following among grassroots donors, and WinRed’s report showed many of his online donors hail from his adopted home state of Florida.
Four of Trump’s top 10 ZIP codes in terms of the number of donors were areas in Florida. And his top ZIP codes — with nearly 700 donors — were for Lady Lake, Fla., which is home to the Villages, a large retirement community known for its Republican political leanings. Nearly 100 online donors from Lady Lake also contributed to tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign.
Trump’s support there underscores the challenge facing DeSantis in his own backyard, as he tries to compete with a former president beloved by much of the GOP base. It’s not clear how much online support DeSantis’ campaign had from this area, because his campaign did not appear in WinRed’s filing. WinRed did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s other top ZIP codes for online donors included localities in Arizona, Texas and Southern California.
Scott and Haley’s Palmetto State battle
WinRed’s report also showed that Sen. Tim Scott and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are, predictably, battling for support in their home state of South Carolina, where Haley also served as governor.
Both candidates’ top 10 ZIP codes for online donors were all from the Palmetto State. Scott’s top donor ZIP code was Mount Pleasant, a Charleston suburb, while Haley’s was Lexington, a Columbia suburb.
Haley and Scott weren’t the only candidates getting support from their home states. Some of Ramaswamy’s top ZIP codes included localities in his home state of Ohio. And former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s top online donor ZIP codes were from the Garden State.
Pence has some D.C. support
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has not yet qualified for the primary debate due to his struggle to reach the donor threshold, also found online support from his home state of Indiana.
Some of his other top ZIP codes for online donors included Washington, D.C. and a D.C. suburb in northern Virginia. But it's difficult to draw conclusions about Pence's appeal to D.C.-area Republicans from the report, since this involves just two dozen donors.
That small number does underscore a challenge for Pence — garnering enough donors to qualify for the debate. Pence's online numbers were among the weakest in NBC News' analysis, though he did only jump into the race a few weeks before the end of June.
Burgum looks outside North Dakota
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum jumped into the presidential race in early June, and the WinRed filing only shows his campaign fundraising through June 30, which was before Burgum launched a unique fundraising ploy to build up his grassroots donor base.
But the report does show that Burgum initially had to look outside of his small home state for online support. His top 10 ZIP codes in terms of online donors were all from Long Island, N.Y.
