As of noon Wednesday, disclosures filed with the San Diego City Clerk showed 362 individuals had contributed at least $1,000 — the threshold to trigger the 24-hour reporting requirement — to one of the mayoral campaigns. These individuals have pumped a total of $380,500 into the race.
Democrat David Alvarez’s campaign raised $29,000 from 29 donors; Republican Kevin Faulconer’s campaign raised $227,500 from 210 donors; and former state assemblyman Nathan Fletcher’s campaign raised $124,000 from 124 donors.
inewsource analyzed the occupations listed on every contribution recorded by the Faulconer and Flether campaigns. As David Alvarez had only 29 donors, we left him out. It’s important to note that the information is entered by the contributor, meaning it’s only as accurate as the donor decides it should be. With that caveat out of the way, what have we found?
As you might expect, individuals who have $1,000 or more to hand over to a political candidate work in occupations with higher incomes. The number one occupation among contributors who donated to either Faulconer or Fletcher was that of a business owner or executive. Those occupations accounted for more than a quarter of both candidates’ donors. That’s not a surprise since both have been aggressively pursuing the business vote. Also among the top occupations for $1,000-plus donors are construction (15 percent for Faulconer, 10 percent for Fletcher), retirees (13 percent for Faulconer, 19 percent for Fletcher) and homemakers (11 percent for Faulconer, 16 percent for Fletcher).
Take a look at the graphics below to see the occupations with the highest contribution rates to these candidates.
