Half the money collected by candidates for Philly mayor comes from outside the city

Philadelphia’s mayoral race has already drawn millions in fundraising. And half of it has come from outside the city.

Campaigns have already raised more than $17 million. Of that, $8 million comes from the candidates themselves. But an Inquirer analysis shows that of the $9.3 million given by actual donors:

That isn’t to say that most donors live outside of Philadelphia. It’s likely that Philly donors make up the majority of contributors to several campaigns. But since contributions from donors giving under $50 aren’t reported individually, it wasn’t possible to know how many donors there were in total or where they all lived. And while the number of donors can be a measure of enthusiasm or breadth of support, the amount of dollars raised is a better measure of the resources candidates bring to bear.

Some candidates have relied more than others on money from outside Philadelphia, according to campaign finance data from January 2022 through the end of March. That’s as the bulk of everyone’s cash has come from big donors, wherever those donors happen to live.

And in the case of Jeff Brown, a lot of them don’t live in the city. The businessman collected less than one-third of his money from donors in Philadelphia, the lowest share of any candidate.

Brown has “a national profile from the positive work he’s done and as a national leader on combating poverty,” said campaign spokesperson Kyle Anderson. The longtime ShopRite proprietor has made much of his campaign pitch about his work opening grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods.

» READ MORE: What recent fundraising tells us about the state of the Philly mayor’s race, in five charts

“In addition to the broad support he’s received in Philadelphia, he’s also supported by people who recognize that he would be exactly what Philadelphia needs — a transformational leader,” Anderson said.

The biggest share of Brown’s money (excluding his own $1.04 million contribution) came from the suburbs.

In contrast with Brown, former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker and ex-City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart both collected two-thirds of their money from city donors, the highest share among the candidates as the race enters its final stretch before the May 16 Democratic primary.

More than the rest of the field, Helen Gym and Derek Green, both former City Council members, have raised money from donors outside the region entirely. Gym in particular has a national profile as a leading voice in the progressive movement, and has significant financial support from the American Federation of Teachers, which is headquartered in Washington. Over one-third of her money comes from donors outside the region.

» READ MORE: Big money is flooding into the Philly mayor’s election. Here’s how it’s shaping the race.

But donors are also funneling money through super PACs, the independent expenditure groups that can raise and spend much more freely than the campaigns themselves. They’ve already raised nearly $5 million, with more sure to come.

And even though super PACs do disclose their contributors, who those donors really are can be pretty unclear. The super PAC supporting Brown, for example, is almost entirely financed by nonprofits whose sources of funding are unknown.

Other super PACs have a mix of local and national funding. A new super PAC backing Rebecca Rhynhart is funded by Philadelphia billionaire Richard Vague. Another group backing Helen Gym has received the bulk of its funding from the AFT. A super PAC boosting Parker relies on support largely from building-trades unions.