Brooklyn Boro

Which 2020 candidates are Brooklyn residents backing with their bucks?

February 19, 2020 Mary Frost
2020 presidential candidates
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More Brooklyn residents have donated their hard-earned cash to Bernie Sanders than to any other presidential candidate, figures from the real estate data portal RentHop and the Federal Election Commission show.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, Sanders received funds from 2,796 individual donors in Brooklyn. Coming in second in the borough was Elizabeth Warren, with 1,791 unique donors. (RentHop’s study is based on the fundraising numbers from the months of October, November and December.)

This is more than double the number of individual Brooklyn donors Sanders had during the third quarter, when he was also the borough’s leader in individual donations.

Sanders also took the lead in Queens, with 984 unique donors.

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But Brooklyn may not be on the same wavelength as other parts of the city. In Queens, Donald Trump had 867 unique donors, almost as many as Sanders. The same was true in the Bronx. While Sanders received a total of 205 donors there, Trump was close on his heels with 185 contributors.

In Manhattan, however, Peter Buttigieg was more popular, leading in the number of donors by roughly a third. During the fourth quarter, Buttigieg received donations from a total of 3,928 unique donors in Manhattan, while Sanders had 2,787 donors.

In Staten Island, Donald Trump took the lead with a total of 388 unique donors, while Sanders had 127.

Brooklyn Heights writes checks for Buttigieg

Sanders collected the most money out all other presidential candidates in numerous Brooklyn ZIP codes, including Fort Greene (11205), Williamsburg (11211), Greenpoint (11222), Bedford-Stuyvesant (11221), Coney Island (11224), Crown Heights (11213), Sunset Park (11220), Kensington (11218) and others, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which uses Federal Election Commission figures that were most recently updated Feb. 4.

While Bernie is a borough favorite, however, ZIP code 11201, which includes Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Downtown Brooklyn and part of Cobble Hill, donated more money to Buttigieg. Buttigieg, who took in roughly what Sanders collected in this ZIP code, was followed by Elizabeth Warren and former candidate Kamala Harris in Brooklyn Heights.

Before entering the theater, Warren gave an impromptu speech to an overflow crowd in the rain.
Elizabeth Warren addressed a crowd of supporters outside a rally at Flatbush’s Kings Theater in January. Photo: Paul Frangipane/Brooklyn Eagle

A few more outliers: Red Hook (11231) and Boerum Hill (11217) donated more money to Warren than they did to Sanders or Buttigieg. Bay Ridge (11209) donated about equal amounts to Sanders and Trump, followed by Warren. And in Bensonhurst, Trump received the most money in local donations, followed by Sanders and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who dropped out of the race in September.

Citywide, Sanders has the numbers but not necessarily more cash

Across New York City, Sanders had more individual donors in the fourth quarter, showing wide grassroots support. But the amount of money people donated to Sanders tended to be smaller than the amounts donated by contributors who backed other candidates. So while Sanders was ahead in the number of individual contributors in New York City, other candidates still hauled in more cash.

According to Center for Responsive Politics, Joe Biden has received more money from New York City contributors than Sanders has during this election cycle. Biden raised $12,643,395 across the city, compared to Sanders’ New York City total of $7,351,368.

Coming in third in total money collected citywide was Buttigieg ($5,835,834), followed closely by Trump ($5,823,894); Warren ($3,307,466) and Harris ($3,203,187).

In just the final quarter of 2019, however, according to RentHop, Trump took in the most money overall, followed by Sanders.

More money was donated by people living in Manhattan’s East Side, Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen and Upper East Side than any other neighborhoods.

Across Brooklyn, 90 percent of the donations made went to Democrats, and 10 percent to Republicans.

In Queens, 75 percent of the donated funds went to Democrats. In Manhattan, 68 percent went to Dems. In the Bronx, 79 percent of donated funds were directed to Democrats. In Staten Island, 55 percent went to Republicans, while only 45 percent went to Democrats.


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