The Bay Area image of Birkenstock-sporting liberals is clashing with a more modern reality: big donors born of the (mostly) tech industry are donating millions of dollars to republican presidential campaigns.
The LA Times looked into donors who gave over $500,000 to presidential campaings. There were 19. Ten of those gave to the Clinton campaign, and most of her money came from the Los Angeles area. But, nine of those donors gave to Republican presidential campaigns, and most of that money came from the Bay Area. The largest donor was Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation, giving $3 million to a committee supporting Marco Rubio of Florida.
Orange County, a region known to support Republican candidacies, seems to be holding back for now.
How do mega-donors influence the dialogue of political campaigns? Do candidates make their donors’ issues their issues?
Guests:
Anthony Pesce, LA Times reporter
Jessica Levinson, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School