Former Vice President Joe Biden is a near-lock to carry El Paso in November, but President Donald Trump has a substantial fundraising advantage in the Sun City, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Trump has raised 3½ times more money than Biden through the end of June in El Paso. The FEC reports cover 2019 and the first six months of 2020.
Trump has reported contributions from more than 500 El Pasoans in 2019 and 2020, compared to just under 200 for Biden. Hundreds of El Pasoans contributed to other Democrats before Biden locked up the nomination.
In 2016, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton received about $287,000 in contributions from El Pasoans, compared to $119,000 that went to Trump.
In recent decades, El Paso has been among the most reliably Democratic counties in Texas. In 2016, Trump received just under 26 percent of the county’s votes, the worst performance in El Paso by a major party candidate in modern history. But the president has built a financial base in El Paso during his 3½ years in office.
The maximum that an individual can donate to a presidential candidate committee is $5,600 in a two-year cycle. One El Pasoan, Margaret Negrete, exceeded that limit through a series of 75 small contributions to Trump, FEC records show. Major campaigns have software that flag excess donations and generate refunds, but the refunds sometimes don’t appear in FEC data until a later reporting period. The next reports from presidential candidates are due to the FEC on Oct. 15.
Here are the El Pasoans who have donated $1,000 or more to Trump:
| Margaret | Negrete | $ 6,498 |
| Robert | Bowling | $ 5,600 |
| Bethany | Hatch | $ 5,500 |
| Jim | Cardwell | $ 5,248 |
| Abbe | Fannin | $ 4,480 |
| Beverly | Stipe | $ 4,301 |
| Michael | Mcintyre | $ 4,162 |
| Gary | Kavonian | $ 4,141 |
| Sharon | Verlander | $ 3,862 |
| Samuel | Contreras | $ 3,825 |
| Margo | Kuykendall | $ 3,750 |
| Randy | Kuykendall | $ 3,750 |
| Tina | Hatch | $ 3,487 |
| William | Nowak | $ 3,360 |
| Elizabeth | Lovelady | $ 2,834 |
| Jack | Martinez | $ 2,777 |
| Harold | Allen | $ 2,707 |
| Danny | Sander | $ 2,642 |
| George | Vanhooser | $ 2,592 |
| Raul | Favela | $ 2,451 |
| Thad | Steele | $ 2,390 |
| Keith | Krohn | $ 2,254 |
| Russell | Rinker | $ 2,231 |
| Dean | Smith | $ 2,100 |
| William | Holmes | $ 2,061 |
| Patricia | Ehler | $ 1,929 |
| Cate | Richards | $ 1,895 |
| Dwight | Borgman | $ 1,800 |
| Virginia | Kraemer | $ 1,724 |
| Edwardo | Sanchez | $ 1,575 |
| Richard | Clarence | $ 1,500 |
| Brett | Moore | $ 1,489 |
| Joyce | Shaffer | $ 1,459 |
| Richard | Ponsford | $ 1,437 |
| Patrick | Moore | $ 1,412 |
| Gerardo | Martinez | $ 1,400 |
| Michael | Engelbaum | $ 1,400 |
| Lyle | Byrum | $ 1,387 |
| Santiago | Batres | $ 1,333 |
| Mirta | Gotbeter | $ 1,293 |
| Jacob | Jensen | $ 1,265 |
| Ruth | Jacobson | $ 1,233 |
| Vera | Barbosa | $ 1,218 |
| Jose | Diaz | $ 1,196 |
| Wendell | Ogletree | $ 1,162 |
| Jeanie | Glenn | $ 1,135 |
| Sergio | Acuna | $ 1,072 |
| Bobby | Lewis | $ 1,055 |
| Judy | Roseberry | $ 1,047 |
| John | Bock | $ 1,035 |
| Maria | Rincon | $ 1,017 |
| Ronald | Wallace | $ 1,000 |
| Frank | Clausen | $ 1,000 |
| Tad | Smith | $ 1,000 |
| Anna | Schotten | $ 1,000 |
| John | Brown | $ 1,000 |
Here are the El Pasoans who have donated $1,000 or more to Biden:
| Paula | Rich-Greenwood | $ 3,800 |
| Bradley | Fuhrman | $ 3,198 |
| Ebetuel | Pallares | $ 2,800 |
| Aaron | Chiu | $ 2,500 |
| Anthony | Parker | $ 2,238 |
| Joanne | Moss | $ 2,005 |
| April | Alatorre | $ 1,825 |
| Lester | Prieto | $ 1,450 |
| Diane | Higgins | $ 1,310 |
| Kathie | Gore | $ 1,250 |
| Russell | Johnson | $ 1,200 |
| Joyce | Mccabe | $ 1,170 |
| Hector | Delgado | $ 1,110 |
| Adi | Soto | $ 1,106 |
| Anthony | Lich | $ 1,100 |
| James | Scherr | $ 1,000 |
| Melissa | Keithly | $ 1,000 |
| Anne | Monty | $ 1,000 |
