Pleasanton's Top Democratic Presidential Campaign Contributors

PLEASANTON, CA - California’s primary election will be held on June 7. By then, the presidential field may shrink.

March 1 is Super Tuesday, with voters in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia all going to the polls. In addition, Republicans will hold caucuses in Alaska, Democrats will hold caucuses in Colorado and Democrats in American Samoa will hold their nominating contest.

While Californians are late in the game when it comes to holding our primary, candidates sure love visiting us early and often to collect campaign contributions. In fact, according to the latest filings by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), an astounding $47.3 million has been donated to presidential candidates. The nearest state, Texas, is $12 million behind California.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has edged Bernie Sanders $21.9 million to $6.1 million.

Nationwide, Clinton has drawn $126.4 million in individual contributions compared to $95.4 million for Sanders.

Those numbers, though, are a bit misleading.

While Clinton’s campaign has raised big bucks from individuals, she’s also been helped by massive money pouring in through Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton Super PAC that has raised more than $50 million in support of the former Secretary of State, according to OpenSecrets.

Sanders has raised just $44,968 from outside groups, according to OpenSecrets.

In Pleasanton, 10 donors have contributed $2700 to Clinton:

• Catherine An— $2,700
• Swapnil Anand— $2,700
• Taresh Anand— $2,700
• Vaibhav Anand— $2,000
• Arnoldo Avalos— $2,700
• Virgil Denise Bradley— $2,700
• James Charles Ghielmetti— $2,700
• Laura Lee Ghielmetti— $2,700
• Steven Ma— $2,700
• Mohan Rao Ravuapati— $2,700
• Wu Chuan Zhang— $2,700

12 people in Pleasanton have made individual contributions of $250 or more to Sanders:

• William Sikkema— $2,700
• Peter Hoose— $2557 (total of multiple donations)
• Noel Anger— $1,000
• Mike Madden— $1,000
• Celesty H. Pearsall— $1,000
• Aaron Perez— $500
• Joe Ely— $400
• Joseph Ely— $400
• Andrea Bloom— $250
• Andrei Bulucea— $250
• Michael Harries— $250
• Robert Spotnitz— $250

--Image via Shutterstock