(Ferenstein Wire) — Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio has a big early lead in the race to secure tech industry riches, snagging about 6x more money than any other candidate so far, according politics analytics startup Crowdpac.
He’s received $3M from donors who self-identify in tech industry employers, compared to Jeb Bush’s $525K. Clinton, a presumptive Silicon Valley favorite, has only managed about half of Bush, at $247K. See the full graph below for the breakdown.
Of course, it’s still (very) early days for the presidential race. And Clinton has a lot of notable contributors, from Elon Musk to Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. However, Rubio also has some important names, including big time political donor and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
The money itself isn’t so much an indication of whether the tech industry will ultimately end up supporting Democrats or Republicans (traditionally, they have been overwhelmingly Democratic).
But the fact that the tech industry has singled out Rubio indicates that the struggling Republican candidate may have some support not yet widely recognized in the press–or he’s just better at glad handing the tech industry. Either way, it’s worth watching to see if the trend continues.
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