Cruz, Sanders, Clinton upped Maine cash haul in March

Underdog presidential candidates continued to hold favor with Maine’s largest individual campaign donors through March, as libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s campaign put its first point on the scoreboard here.

On the Republican side, Maine caucus winner and Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz continued to report the most vigorous fundraising operation in the state. Democratic donors continued to favor Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, putting another $55,000 into his campaign coffers for the month.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign also reported a rise in itemized individual donations through March.

Those figures represent only a portion of the total donations from any given state, as campaigns are required to break out individual donors who give more than $200, but they can also itemize those donations before a donor hits that mark.

Fundraising on the Republican side has been more fragmented from the start, and larger Maine donors had preferred multiple candidates over Cruz in early donations.

Though former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dropped out in late February and neurosurgeon Ben Carson dropped out in early March, the two candidates still led Cruz in Maine fundraising by the end of March. That’s due largely to donations from midcoast and southern coastal areas, where former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina also led Cruz.

In the second panel below, Cruz held a lead in the Bangor area through March while remaining almost tied with Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and far behind Fiorina and Bush. On the Democratic side, Sanders overtook Clinton for itemized donations along the coastal stretch whence comes most campaign contributions in Maine.

So far, the state’s larger Democratic donors have come out in fuller force, led by Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Brunswick, with the small college town being the most partisan of the three.

Select a candidate in the view below for a full look at the ZIP codes where they’ve reported the most itemized donations from the start of the campaign through March.

Darren Fishell

About Darren Fishell

Darren is a Portland-based reporter for the Bangor Daily News writing about the Maine economy and business. He's interested in putting economic data in context and finding the stories behind the numbers.