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Trump leads Oklahoma campaign donations race by wide margin

Emily Wendler / KOSU
Donald Trump appears at a rally in Oklahoma City on February 26, 2016.

Former President Donald Trump is raking in big bucks in Oklahoma.

Since January, Trump has topped campaign donations in Oklahoma, collecting nearly five times more than his closest competitor in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, Trump raked in $329,615 from Oklahoma donors. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — Trump’s closest competition — collected a little more than $67,000.

In June, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt endorsed DeSantis. In the past, Trump had endorsed Stitt and the governor had done the same in the 2020 election.

Trump lashed out at Stitt on his own website Truth Social, claiming Stitt had called him when he was in “BIG trouble” during his governor’s campaign in 2022 to ask for an endorsement.

Stitt ended up winning by more than 10 percentage points.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley raised nearly $48,000, the last Republican candidate in Oklahoma to raise over $25,000. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy received just over $24,000 from Oklahomans, while former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised $7,100, after announcing his campaign in April.

The campaign files end with donations from June 30. Two candidates who declared their candidacies in June — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — both raised less than $2,000.

Former Vice President Mike Pence also announced his run in early June, but didn’t receive any donations in Oklahoma in the filing period.

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden raised over $26,000. Biden lost every county in Oklahoma in the 2020 election against Trump. His competition includes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who raked in over $11,000 and author Marianne Williamson, who raised less than $5,000.

Oklahoma’s presidential primaries are March 5, 2024. Last cycle, Biden won the state Democratic primary and Trump topped the Republican vote.

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Peggy Dodd was an intern at KOSU during the summer of 2023.
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