California Politicos, Hollywood, Lawyers, Contribute to Kamala Harris

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has raised $13.2  million from more than 218,000 individual contributions in the first quarter of 2019. Of those, 7,278 were California donors.

Harris is known for her digital following, as well as small-donor fund-raising operations. But she has her large supporters as well.

San Francisco socialite and museum board chief Dede Wilsey, who contributed $2,800 in the most recent quarter to Harris, donated more than $24,000 to Kamala Harris’ races for state attorney general in 2010 and 2014, and she maxed out to Harris’ current bid for the U.S. Senate with a pair of contributions totaling $5,400, according to federal elections reports, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. “She’s also a prominent donor to Republicans on the national level. ‘I’m basically an independent,’ Wilsey said. ‘I give to those persons I regard as the best candidates, regardless of political affiliation.’”

Soliel Moon Frye of Punky Brewster fame contributed $1,000 to Harris.

California Assembly members Kevin Mullin and Bianca Rubio each contributed $1,000 from their 2020 campaigns, while Ted Lieu For Congress contributed $2,000.

Kevin de Leon For Senate, Diane Feinstein’s U.S. Senate opponent in 2018, made two contributions totaling $2,800. Feinstein won with 54 percent of the vote over de Leon’s 45 percent.

“Harris raised $102,219 from New Jersey donors as part of a $13.2 million first-quarter haul,” the New Jersey Globe reported, following a big fundraiser in the garden state.

Many of Harris’ donors go through ActBlue, a nonprofit technology organization used by Democrats, progressive groups, and nonprofits to raise money on the Internet by providing them with online fundraising software. Its stated mission is to “empower small-dollar donor.”

Harris received many contributions from the entertainment industry as well as California lawyers.

“In April 2018 Harris said she would no longer accept corporate PAC money,” Open Secrets reported. “However, she accepted plenty of PAC money before then. From the 2016 cycle through the 2018 cycle, Harris received almost $361,000 in business PAC contributions. In the 2018 cycle, lawyers were her biggest sector for PAC money. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer PAC donated $5,000 to Harris, as did Bryan, Cave et al. Law firms have been Harris’ top donor industry since she ran in 2016. She received more than $2.3 million from PACs and individuals in the field of law since that cycle.”

For her Senate run in 2016, Harris raised more than $15 million from movie industry donors.