LGBT donors help mayor defy 2020 expectations

Associated Press

GREENVILLE, S.C.

Jonah Burrell first contributed to Pete Buttigieg’s campaign after watching the first prominent openly gay presidential candidate on television. When Burrell later saw him in person in a cramped upstate South Carolina auditorium, he knew he had to do it again.

“I felt compelled to help,” Burrell, a nursing student who is gay, said after the event. “It makes me proud he’s a gay man.”

Financial support from the LGBT community has helped Buttigieg defy expectations by raking in more than $7 million in just over two months. The money has come from grass-roots supporters such as Burrell and big-dollar Hollywood donors who hope Buttigieg will make history – or at least the summer debate stage.

The Buttigieg appeal was on display again this weekend when the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and his husband separately headlined galas for two of the country’s largest LGBT organizations.

Victory Fund, which invested $2 million in LGBT candidates in 2018, expects to endorse Buttigieg shortly after he formally joins the race, President and CEO Annise Parker said.

The board that makes endorsements – made up of 100 “bundlers,” or people who commit to raising $5,000 annually for candidates – has been “champing at the bit” to endorse him, she said.

Once they do, the group will appeal to its donor network to directly support Buttigieg’s campaign and promote his events.

While his upstart campaign benefited from the gay community’s support, he didn’t rely on it. Buttigieg says he received donations from nearly 160,000 people between late January and March 31.