Among NBA donors, Joe Biden easily ahead of Donald Trump for now
Donald Trump may be beating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in fundraising towards November’s election overall in the United States… but that is not so in the NBA.
Per our research from the Federal Election Commission‘s data, Trump is once again struggling with the NBA constituency, as was the case back in 2016 when donors from the league sided their financial contributions heavily to Hillary Clinton, who raised over $1.4 million from NBA donors.
So far towards this election, Trump only has four NBA donors, all members of ownership groups. The highest of those donations is $5,600 from Orlando Magic chairman Dan DeVos, a name that might sound familiar as Betsy Devos, Dan’s sister-in-law, is Trump’s Secretary of Education.
Other NBA donations for Trump thus far are $2,800 Indiana Pacers vice-chairman James Morris, $200 from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and $318.75 from Los Angeles Lakers part-owner James Buss.
In total, Trump has raised $8,918.75 from NBA donors.
Biden, on the other hand, has both the largest number of donors and the highest amount of money, though he hasn’t exactly reached an amount worth bragging about just yet.
Biden has raised $25,293 in total from the NBA constituency, including donations from Detroit Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, Bucks senior vice president Alex Lasry and co-owner Marc Lasry, and Pacers owner Herb Simon. Other sizeable donations come from Miami Heat general manager Andy Elisburg and vice president Shane Battier.
Something else worth noting: Even senator Cory Booker beats Trump in donations, despite the fact that he never polled that well during the primaries. Booker even got a donation from commissioner Adam Silver, who gave $2,700 to his campaign.
Also interesting: Two of the most left-leaning candidates, senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom were considered potential favorites to win the Democratic bid at different points, struggled with NBA donors. Sanders had 11 candidates ahead of him in terms of money donated to presidential candidates by the NBA consistency while Warren had 10 ahead of her. That might have something to do with their tax platforms which would have called for more taxation towards the wealthy; some NBA players – current and former – and executives would fall under that distinction.
Overall, however, the biggest story here is how much more money is going to Democratic candidates over incumbent Trump. For every dollar Trump has had donated to his campaign by NBA donors, 7.5 dollars have gone to Democrats.
Oh, we should also mention: Just like in the 2016 election, no active players have donated money to any candidate.
OVERALL NUMBERS
JOE BIDEN
CORY BOOKER
DONALD TRUMP
PETE BUTTIGIEG
MICHAEL BENNET
KAMALA HARRIS
STEVE BULLOCK
JOE SESTAK
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
JOHN DELANEY
ELIZABETH WARREN
BERNIE SANDERS
ANDREW YANG
TIM RYAN
AMY KLOBUCHAR