President Donald Trump is winning the race for campaign contributions from Northeast Pennsylvanians.
Trump raised $207,417 from 651 residents in the region, according to Federal Election Commission reports on campaign finances through Sept. 30.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a Scranton native, raised $54,779 from 70 Northeast Pennsylvanians.
Chris Borick, professor of political science and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said Trump’s “ability to raise some substantial contributions in the region is a measure of his continued strength in the Northeast,” noting Trump’s advantage in Northeast Pennsylvania helped him win Pennsylvania and the state’s 20 votes in the Electoral College in 2016.
Twenty 2020 Democratic candidates reported a total of $145,348 from Northeast Pennsylvania contributions, and Biden raised the most in the region.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont had more contributors in the region, raising $25,837 from 108 residents in the region. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was next with $17,938 from 45 contributors, and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, reported $17,340 in contributions from 40 donors.
These early campaign contributors indicate a candidate’s “core constituency, who are very ardent supporters of the candidates,” said R. Lucas Williams, an assistant professor of history and government at Misericordia University.
“Trump has a core base of supporters, and they are obviously willing to give their money early and often here. And that matters,” Williams said. “It certainly suggests he hasn’t lost any of those base key contributors.”
Trump had the highest contribution amount nationally at $160.6 million and statewide at $2.4 million. All the Democratic candidates raised a total of $453.5 million nationally and almost $4.5 million in Pennsylvania.
“The campaign contribution figures in Pennsylvania reflect the competitive nature of the presidential race here with fairly equal amounts of contributions going to the President and the field of Democrats,” Borick said.
Among the Democrats, Biden raised the most in Pennsylvania with almost $1.4 million. Sanders had the largest contribution total nationally at $73.8 million.
“Biden has had a lengthy, lengthy involvement with Pennsylvania, and that’s not just because of his 10-year residency in the state, but because of the countless times he traveled throughout the state during the 36 years he spent as a senator and the connections and contacts that he has. So that shouldn’t come as a big surprise,” said G. Terry Madonna, a professor of public affairs and a polling expert at Pennsylvania’s Franklin & Marshall College.
Biden grew up in Scranton and moved to Delaware as a boy with his family. He represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2008 and was elected vice president twice, in 2008 and 2012.
“Biden’s comparative strength in fundraising among Democrats in NEPA is not unexpected given his Scranton roots, and if he was to get the nomination, it would be interesting to see how he and Trump would go head-to-head in terms of raising cash in the region,” Borick said.
Biden hosted a private fundraiser attended by nearly 200 people Oct. 22 at the Fox Hill Country Club in Exeter. Money raised from that event will be included in the report for the next three-month period that ends Dec. 31. The deadline to file that report is Jan. 31.
The FEC groups contributions from areas that share the first three digits of five-digit ZIP codes. Trump raised $52,288 from the area with ZIP codes that start with 183. It was his largest total in Northeast Pennsylvania, and the area includes most of Monroe County and parts of Pike and Northampton counties.
Biden’s largest total from Northeast Pennsylvania came from the area with ZIP codes that start with 184, which includes parts of Lackawanna, Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike, Monroe and Wyoming counties. Biden raised $20,018 from that area, while Trump raised $48,650 from that area.
Biden raised more than Trump in one ZIP code area in the region — the Scranton area with ZIP codes that start with 185. Biden received $17,690 in contributions there, and Trump received $12,935 there.
Pennsylvania was a key battleground state in the 2016 election. More than 6 million Pennsylvanians voted, and Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in the state by 44,292 votes.
Trump had a large margin of victory in Luzerne County — the county with the most votes in Northeast Pennsylvania — with 78,688 votes to Clinton’s 52,451. Clinton narrowly won the vote in Lackawanna and Monroe counties.
Trump received more than 62% of the vote in Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Pike, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Wayne and Wyoming and counties.
The state is expected to be a key battleground state again in 2020.
“Pennsylvania is one of four or five states likely to determine the next president,” Madonna said. “Forty states don’t matter. Here’s what going to happen. Look at the number of visits the presidential candidates have already made to our state, despite the fact that our primary is April 28.”
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