Manchin’s Defections Have Helped Yield Fund-Raising Windfall

(Bloomberg) -- Bucking his party has paid off for Senator Joe Manchin who raised $1.6 million in the fourth quarter and a total of $4.8 million in 2021, his highest total ever in a non-election year.

The West Virginia Democrat's haul over the last three months of the year includes hundreds of thousands of dollars from financial industry and real estate donors, according to Manchin's latest filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Along with Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Manchin has thrown sand into the gears of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda. Manchin announced in December that he couldn't support the Democrats' $3.5 trillion spending bill that addresses a wide range of the party's policy priorities, citing, among other things, its price tag and impact on the energy industry. With the Senate evenly split and all 50 Republicans opposed to the legislation, Manchin's opposition effectively derailed the bill.

In January, after Biden called passing a rewrite of the nation's voting laws a top priority, Manchin and fellow Democrat Sinema each announced they opposed changing the Senate's filibuster rules that would have allowed a vote to proceed.

Sinema raised $1.6 million in the fourth quarter and ended the year with $5.8 million cash on hand. Her next election is in 2024.

While Democrats, especially those in the party's progressive wing, have vented their frustrations at Manchin, deep-pocketed donors have poured campaign cash into his coffers.

They include Home Depot Inc. co-founder Kenneth Langone and his wife, Elaine Langone, who each gave the maximum $5,800. Richard LeFrak of the LeFrak Organization and Ross Perot Jr. also maxed out. Donors from Apollo Global Management Inc. combined to give $28,100, and included chief executive officer Marc Rowan and Scott Kleinman, Apollo's co-president.

Financial industry contributors were the largest source of funds for Manchin in the fourth quarter, giving $234,000. The real estate industry was second, at $116,000.

Manchin didn't get much support from West Virginia donors in the fourth quarter. Individuals who contributed at least $200 gave $1.2 million, just $7,155 of which came from Mountain State residents, a fraction of a percent of his total. In the 2018 election cycle, the last time Manchin raised comparable sums of money, 16% of the money he raised from those donors came from his home state.

The low fourth quarter percentage may be because of Manchin's fundraising strategy, the fact that he's not running in 2022, or a sign of diminished support among West Virginia donors.

His haul for the year topped the $3.8 million he raised in 2017, the year before his last Senate election and his prior off-year record. Manchin doesn't face voters again until 2024.