Hollywood A-listers and Silicon Valley moguls are among the top individual donors to a wide field of Democrats yearning to unseat President Trump in 2020, according to Federal Election Commission filings
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., snagged financial support from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who donated the maximum amount, $2,800, to his presidential campaign. Also among Booker’s donors were PayPal CEO Dan Schulman, DreamWorks head Jeffrey Katzenberg, former eBay president John Donahoe, and Salesforce chief Marc Benioff.
Rising Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn, also gave money to Booker, according to the latest fundraising snapshot from the commission. While Booker garnered $7.9 million in the first quarter of 2019, he was outstripped by several rivals for the Democratic nomination.
More than a dozen have entered the race for the party’s nomination so far, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., amassing the largest campaign war chest, at $20.7 million, according to commission filings. He was followed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California, who raised $16.5 million and $13.2 million, respectively.
Harris listed Benioff and Katzenberg among her donors, as well as former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos and investors Sam Altman and Ron Conway, one of Silicon Valley’s “super angels.” She also scored contributions from A-list actors including Ben Affleck, Elizabeth Banks, Eva Longoria Baston, and director Lee Daniels.
Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who raised $1.8 million this year, scored a $1,000 contribution from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, according to filings.
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., whose own star power in the Democratic field is rising, secured donations from actors Ryan Reynolds and Mandy Moore.
James Murdoch, the ex-CEO of 21st Century Fox CEO and son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, also backed Buttigieg with a $2,800 donation.
Buttigieg, who was relatively unknown before entering the 2020 conversation, surprised many with his $7.1 million haul for the first three months of the year.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, counted actress Susan Sarandon among her donors.
