{"id":638940,"date":"2018-10-26T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=638940"},"modified":"2018-10-25T19:28:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T01:28:30","slug":"small-donors-show-up-big-for-lujan-grisham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/10\/small-donors-show-up-big-for-lujan-grisham\/","title":{"rendered":"Small donors show up big for Lujan Grisham"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_565685\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-565685\" src=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lujan-Grisham-Michelle-771x522.jpg\" alt=\"Michelle Lujan Grisham\" width=\"771\" height=\"522\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lujan-Grisham-Michelle.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lujan-Grisham-Michelle-336x227.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Lujan-Grisham-Michelle-768x520.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy photo<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Lujan Grisham<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One of the stories that\u2019s emerged during the\u00a02018 election is a surge of online small donors\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2018\/10\/16\/us\/politics\/campaign-finance-small-donors.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">crossing state lines<\/a>\u00a0to power insurgent Democratic candidates who the party hopes will lead to a takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p>One of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/10\/22\/pressure-on-the-campaign-trail-battle-for-cd2-no-sweat-for-herrell-and-torres-small\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">those campaigns<\/a>\u00a0is in southern New Mexico\u2019s 2nd Congressional District. Democratic candidate Xochitl Torres Small has built a war chest that includes significant<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/09\/21\/national-pacs-jump-into-2nd-congressional-district-race-we-analyze-the-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0small donor<\/a>\u00a0support in a race against Republican Yvette Herrell that the Cook Political Report has rated a \u201ctoss-up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Torres Small and other Democratic congressional candidates aren\u2019t the only ones benefiting. New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham\u2019s small donor contributions reported with a month left in the campaign have notably outpaced not just those of her rival, Republican Steve Pearce, but also candidates in the last two gubernatorial campaigns. And a much larger share of her small donations, those that are $200 or less, come from outside New Mexico.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/10\/25\/small-donors-make-a-showing-in-new-mexico\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Lujan Grisham\u2019s ability to rake in small donations from other states may say less about her positions and more about her ability to tap a national<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2018\/05\/02\/us\/politics\/democratic-fundraising-midterm-elections.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0network of Democratic donors<\/a>\u00a0giving small amounts, often multiple times.<\/p>\n<p>Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said energized Democratic small donors are one of the themes of this election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Small donors are contributing 40 percent or more of campaign accounts in some cases to candidates for the House and Senate, with the highest going to women, Krumholz said. While she said she hadn\u2019t looked at gubernatorial races, it makes sense that races at all levels would feel the effects of Democratic grassroots fervor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything to do with politics is benefiting from the intensity of this cycle, arguably more on the Democratic side, and small donors are a demonstrable piece of that,\u201d Krumholz said.<\/p>\n<p>Small donor contributions given in total to New Mexico candidates this year are on track to outpace amounts given in elections going back to 2010, most likely due to Lujan Grisham\u2019s fundraising strength. In gubernatorial election years, there are more small donations fueling state races. That\u2019s most likely because in presidential years some of the small donor interest is diverted to their presidential candidate of choice.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-638943\" src=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-25-at-09.19.36-771x360-copy-771x405.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"771\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-25-at-09.19.36-771x360-copy.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-25-at-09.19.36-771x360-copy-336x176.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Screen-Shot-2018-10-25-at-09.19.36-771x360-copy-768x403.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>An online digital fundraising site called Act Blue allows people to make their own online accounts and easily donate to candidates, with an option to make monthly donations for as small as one dollar. Most Democratic candidates use the site in their fundraising appeals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an age where if someone has the right characteristics, and with Act Blue, it makes it so much easier,\u201d said Krumholz. \u201cIt\u2019s similar to impulse buying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans don\u2019t have the same network, so that might be one reason Pearce doesn\u2019t have the same small donor support,\u201d she said.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>But do small donations really matter? Ultimately, candidates need cash. Lujan Grisham\u2019s small donor haul \u2013 $1.4 million \u2013 accounts for just 17 percent of her total funds.<\/p>\n<p>And while Lujan Grisham has significantly out-raised Pearce, not just with small donors, she had less money on hand than Pearce for the crucial final stretch, according to campaign finance reports filed in early October, when candidates need cash to counter negative advertising.<\/p>\n<p>Pearce had $1.2 million to Lujan Grisham\u2019s $780,000.<\/p>\n<p>Small donors tend to be more ideological than larger donors, said Krumholz, which is valuable because their enthusiasm also translates to voting and getting their families and friends to vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re valuable because they add up, they can amass a lot of money and they are likely to represent a lot of people who vote,\u201d said Krumholz. \u201cNot only are they valuable because they give candidates voters and money, but they also get enthusiastic about getting their friends and families to vote. So it\u2019s that building of the base.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic gubernatorial candidate&#8217;s small donor contributions have outpaced those of her opponent and candidates in the last two gubernatorial campaigns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":565685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2238,705,107],"class_list":["post-638940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-election","tag-money-in-politics","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638940"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":638946,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638940\/revisions\/638946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}