Austin's Top Republican Presidential Campaign Contributors

AUSTIN, TX -- The tale of the tape in Austin as it relates to candidate support -- from the standpoint of individuals donors opening their checkbook to fund presidential hopefuls’ efforts to reach the White House -- closely mirrors national trends.

Except for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

An aberration in so many ways, the billionaire reality-star-turned-politician hasn’t secured much in the way of political donations from individual donors in Austin. Then again, he’s made it known he’s “self-funding” his campaign -- a point of pride for him -- which may alert his supporters, which are legion, he’ll take their support at the polls where it really counts.

There are also some nice-sized contributions coming from Austin’s outlying cities of Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander and Pflugerville, but not at the level of the big city.

As for the rest of the field, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz unsurprisingly has the most individual donations from not only Austinites, but the state in general, according to Federal Election Commission tabulations.

The FEC is the federal regulatory body charged with keeping track of who’s donated and how much, with an eye to ensure people stay within the federally mandated limits. For individuals, that’s $2,700; for couples, twice that amount.

In Central Texas, it is in Austin -- naturally, given its bigger size -- where the bigger donations originate. A cursory glance at donations from outlying cities -- Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Pflugerville -- yields just a few of those big-time donations.

Austin, on the other hand, is the motherlode for big gives.

Following is a sampling of who gave the most in Austin, and to which candidate. For effiiciency’s sake, only the front-runners past primary results -- Trump, Cruz, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are summarized.

Below is a snapshot of which Austinites have given the most to their preferred candidates.

Local-boy done good Cruz logs the most impressive monied support from individual donors, with several big-money contributors adding to his war chest:

• Attorney Brad S. Knippa was among those in the city that gave the most, with a $5,400 contribution to Cruz’s campaign. However, an FEC notation indicates some of that was refunded -- a “reattribution to spouse,” in the FEC parlance. But still, the initial amount indicates a considerable measure of support.
• Another Austin fellow, Joe R. Long, sent the amount. His occupation isn’t listed, and some of that amount, too, was re-attributed to his spouse.
• Stacy Hock, described in FEC filings as “self-employed/philanthropist”also gave $5,400, but some of that amount also was re-attributed.

Others who donated that $5,400 max only to have some re-attributed were: Pedro Alonso of Reverse Gravity; Shea Morenz, managing partner of Strarfor; and retiree Michael Young.

Giving the maximum $2,700 for individual donations were:

• Attorney Barry Smitherman.
• John Raymond, teacher, also gave the maximum individual political contribution of $2,700.
• Joel Hock (no occupation listed.
• Reagan Reaud, described as the CEO of an outfit called Privateer Capital Management.
• Retiree Elena Goyanes, who’s listed as having given the amount twice (presumable to have some refunded);.
• Reed Dickens (no occupation listed).
• Bryan Lewis of real estate firm Capitol Group.
• Josh Abbott, oddly described a “self-employed/baller” in the otherwise dry FEC listings.
• Lorne Abony, CEO of Vested Finance.
• Chris Keffer, a vice president of governmental affairs at Iron Gate Partners.
• Evarardo Goyanes, self-employed in the finance industry.
• Melinda Twomey, another retiree.
• Barry Twomey, described as an investor with TGF Management.
• Attorney John McDuff.

Rubio also had support from a handful of people donating $2,000 to his campaign:

• Scott Stepp of M. Stream Management Inc.
• Chandra J. Hosek, owner of HZ Strat Communications.
• Chris Hosek, listed as a lobbyist/principal at Texas Star Alliance.

Rubio also has had several $1,000 donors, including Barry Sanditen of Sanditen Associates Inc.; homemakers Michelle Cooksley and Jannis Baldwin; retiree Deborah Hodgkins; Jonathan Bellin, a software engineer manager at National Instruments; Chad Wilbanks of the Wilbanks Group; John Schweitzer, a self-described investor; James Tracy of Great Stuff Inc.; retiree David Graham; Dennis Dautel, listed as CEO of Dunamis Holdings; and John D. Esparza, for whom no occupational description was included.

The idea of Trump as an enigma is Trump is advanced in studying the FEC filings. His individual contributions may be low due to his self-funding.

Or maybe the meager levels illustrate that he doesn’t have the support he’s shown at successful primaries outside of Austin.

Who knows.

In any event, the biggest Austin contributors for Trump’s campaign (according to the FEC filings) have been psychologist Gail Jaquish and Steve Tremmel, listed as self-employed. They each gave $1,000 to the multi-billionaire despite his self-funded campaign.

From there, individual donor levels drop off, with a smattering of sizable ones. Each contributing $500 were: investor Christopher Wilson; attorney James Monte; Chris Wilson (uncertain if it’s the same as “Christopher”); Ronnie Klatt, a manager at Lauren Concrete.

Then, the levels drop off even more. There’s $344 from Darla Thompson, a roof inspector; another $267 from Sam Mikhail, investor; Thomas McKay, a machinist who gave $250 and $251 on separate occasions. Others gave $250 and below.

This year’s run for the White House has been anything but predictable, and perhaps examining donations won’t serve to auger a prediction as to the victor.

But the range and diversity of donors as evidenced in the regulatory filings -- from housewives and retirees to captains of industry and business owners -- reflects a wide array of support across the board.

And whoever your preferred candidate might be, there’s solace in extrapolating from the dry FEC listings a picture of democracy in action, no?

Polls for Super Tuesday will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.