One of the main rationales advanced by partisans of Julian Schreibman, candidate for Congress in the new 19th Congressional District, is that he can raise lots of money—and that his Democratic primary opponent, Joel Tyner, is impecunious.
In politics, some advantages are also disadvantages. In this case, if Schreibman wins next Tuesday’s primary (as many assume he will, though only based on optics) Republicans will surely raise the question: Where does his money come from?
Above is a chart of donations made to the Schreibman campaign by individuals, based upon to Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records as of this week for the April 15th and Pre-Primary cycles. In addition, these public records indicate that the primary candidate has loaned his own campaign $100,000, while receiving $49,848 in donations from PACs and other committees.
As the chart indicates, about one-quarter (24%) of Schreibman’s funds from individual donors has arrived from out of state—including donors from California, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. Over 40% (more than $16,000) of these out-of-state donations came from the DC/Maryland/Virginia metro area, where Schreibman worked as a laywer for several years for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Meanwhile, over $70,000 of these contrubutors hail from Manhattan and the other boroughs of New York City, comprising 43% of his overall donations, or 56% of all of his donations from within New York State.
Those donations from NYC-area donors eclipsed Schreibman’s rake from residents with ZIP codes within the new 19th Congressional District. Local donors gave just $27,150, or just 16% of his overall donations. Donors from other parts of the state (primarily Westchester and Long Island) gave more than local donors as well, ponying up over $29,000.
Only one donation to Schreibman is recorded from a resident of “the 12534,” from a resident of Greenport. And the number coming from Columbia County ZIPs can be counted on one hand.
In short, it is accurate to say that Schreibman is having moderate success with his fundraising, though he has already spent almost $95,000 of what he’s raised. In addition, his totals lag far behind what prior first-time candidates such as Scott Murphy and Kirsten Gillibrand had raised at this point in their original campaigns.
For those who are touting Schreibman as the best bet to beat semi-incumbent Chris Gibson, this fundraising also exposes their man to the obvious charge that he's is a creature of outside, national Democratic forces, rather than a Favorite Son of CD-19. (Indeed, one of Schreibman’s recent donors was Susan Axelrod, wife of top Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod.)
In a newly-defined district with more Republicans than Democrats, the Schreibman campaign had better be prepared for that salvo. The Gibson camp no doubt is surely aware of this already, and preparing its attack ads. A parallel review of the Gibson campaign donors will follow sometime after the primary, but a cursory analysis of his donations shows that he already has over $1 million on hand for this election