Warren And Buttigieg Raised Their Mass. Money In Different Places

The two top fundraising Democratic presidential candidates in Massachusetts last quarter raised their money from different locations, and in differing ways.

When Pete Buttigieg out-raised Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her own state between April and June, nearly a third of that cash — $317,471 — came from Boston. During that same time, Warren raised $114,420 from the city.

Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor from South Bend, Indiana, went from raising virtually no money in Massachusetts in the first three months of this year, to being the top fundraiser in the state, raising $980,856 to Warren’s $799,984 in the second quarter.

(Buttigieg raised nearly $25 million nationwide in the second quarter, while Warren, who swore off courting wealthy donors in her primary campaign, raised over $19 million nationwide during the same period.)

A review of federal campaign finance filings shows Buttigieg raking in cash from fundraising excursions in Boston, Provincetown, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, while Warren received money from a much wider swath of her home state.

Buttigieg raised $74,438 in Provincetown in Q2 and a combined $91,991 on the Vineyard and Nantucket during the same period. That's up from just $1,000 total Buttigieg raised from these three places over the first three months of the year.

A fundraising swing over the July Fourth weekend through the Vineyard, Nantucket and Provincetown means Buttigieg's fundraising tallies there will likely be even higher when the next federal campaign finance filings are published in October.

Warren raised $9,113 from Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Provincetown in the second quarter, and $9,450 from these communities in the first three months of 2019.

Presidential campaigns are only required to report itemized data on contributions, including donor names and addresses, when they exceed $200 total from an individual during a campaign cycle. So small-money donors aren't included in this data.

Warren's top municipality in the second quarter was her home city of Cambridge, where she took in $130,987, followed by Boston, Brookline ($41,787), Somerville ($36,311) and Newton ($32,433).

Buttigieg took in $62,645 from Cambridge, $31,719 from Brookline and $42,391 from Newton during the same period.

While Buttigieg raised a lot of money from certain communities, he’s made very few inroads into western Massachusetts, a progressive stronghold.

Warren raised $78,144 from 19 western Massachusetts cities and towns, including Springfield and Amherst, in the first six months of 2019, while Buttigieg raised just $3,223 from those same municipalities in the same period.

Notable donors to the Buttigieg campaign in the second quarter included Steven Grossman, former treasurer and twice candidate for governor; Boston real estate magnate Peter Palandjian; billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman; Walter Teller, prominent LA entertainment lawyer and longtime Vineyard resident; and several high-profile names from Bain Capital.

Wealthy Warren donors included billionaire Boston-based investor Vin Ryan Jr. and Boston University trustee Carla Meyer, who are married; Daniel Wolf, founder of Cape Air and former state senator; Paul Brountas Jr., treasurer to congressional candidate Shannon Liss-Riordan's campaign committee; and at least seven Harvard law professors, including Joseph Singer, Lewis Sargentich and Christine Desan.

Alan Solomont, ambassador to Spain under President Obama and former bundler for Hillary Clinton, has contributed to both campaigns.

Democratic candidate and Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton raised $571,888 from his home state last quarter.

While it’s impossible to say how much money from Massachusetts donors contributing $200 or less have fueled Warren’s campaign in the first half of 2019, we know that she’s taken in over $20 million in such contributions nationwide. This makes her the second-highest grossing “low-donor” Democrat, behind Bernie Sanders, who raised over $32 million in small-dollar donations during the same period. Buttigieg has taken in over $17 million in donations of $200 or less.