Former Mayor Bill Euille says one of the first things he did in his first campaign for City Council in 1994 was grab a copy of the student directory from Quinnipiac University, where he graduated in 1972. He started reaching out to old friends, relatives, classmates, professors, doctors, dentists — anyone and everyone he could think of who might be willing to write a check to help him get elected. In the popular imagination, the people who finance City Council campaigns might be fat-cat developers or people with interest at City Hall — and certainly there have been examples of that. But a review of campaign finance records from the Democratic primary shows most of the high-dollar donors are people with personal relationships to the candidates.
"I always tell folks to call on your family members and personal friends first," said Euille. "Other donors are going to look at your list, and if they see it's broad-based they'll donate to you. But if they see it's limited they're going to be skeptical about your chances of winning."
"I know this sounds like hearts and flowers, but most of the people who give to these campaigns are truly people who care about the city."
— Susan Kellom, former chairwoman of the Alexandria Democratic Committee
Running a campaign for the Alexandria City Council isn't cheap. Euille says he often advises potential candidates they'll need to raise $20,000 to $30,000 just to get through the primary and then twice that for the general election. Raising that kind of money takes personal and professional connections, a Rolodex full of names and a stack of business cards. Sometimes candidates finance their own campaigns. Other times they have wealthy relatives. Most of the time they depend on a network of people who are friends and associates.
"I know this sounds like hearts and flowers, but most of the people who give to these campaigns are truly people who care about the city," said Susan Kellom, former chairwoman of the Alexandria Democratic Committee. "It's not that they're looking for something to advance themselves personally, most of the time these are personal friends who really want the person to get elected."
The candidate who raised the most money is Kirk McPike, who has more than a decade of fundraising experience working on campaigns across the country. He's perhaps best known in Alexandria for running the successful primary campaign of Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-30) in 2011, a fiercely competitive race against then-Councilman Rob Krupicka and then-Arlington School Board Chairwoman Libby Garvey. McPike has also run campaigns for Congress in California and sheriff in Texas, so he had a professional advantage over first-time candidates who were learning about this for the first time.
"Political fundraising is a large part of my career and has been ever since I graduated from college," said McPike. "A lot of my friends and my professional contacts are people who understand the importance of early contributions to political campaigns, which was certainly an advantage when I was telling my friends and former colleagues that I was running."
TOP CONTRIBUTORS
Kirk McPike
$2,021 from Kellye Rogers, Capital One
$1,500 from Cragg Hines of Arlington
$1,020 from Kirk McPike, United States House of Representatives
$1,000 from DNC PAC
$1,000 from Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-30)
John Chapman
$3,500 from Reginald James Brown, attorney at WilmerHale
$2,500 from Danielle Romanetti, owner of fibre space
$1,700 from John Chapman, Fairfax County Public Schools
$1,700 from Rob Krupicka, Sugar Shack Donuts
$1,000 from Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw
Alyia Gaskins
$2,000 from Jabaal Sheard, New York Giants
$1,000 from Verna Gaskins, York City School District
$1,000 from Sarah Hansell of Marco Island, Fla.
$1,000 from Jonathan Jefferson, HCA Healthcare
$1,000 from Brooke Syndor Curran, RunningBrooke
Canek Aguirre
$2,500 from Thomson Hirst, Mason Hirst commercial real estate
$2,000 from Lillian Vagnoni, Alexandria social worker
$1,000 from Alexandria Justice PAC
$1,000 from Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw
$750 from Councilwoman Del Pepper
Amy Jackson
$2,500 from Reginald James Brown, attorney at WilmerHale
$2,500 from Mark Williams, attorney at Morgan Lewis
$1,000 from Anne Bigay Ridenhour of Alexandria
$1,000 from Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw
$750 from John Kling II, dentist
Sarah Bagley
$1,510 from Sarah Bagley, Chisom Housing Group
$1,250 from Lindsay Spalding-Steven, insurance agent
$680 from Searles Bagley of Chesapeake
$500 from Sherry Fardie of Wolcott, Colo.
$500 from Christine West, ERA Coalition
James Lewis
$5,000 from Mark Williams, attorney at Morgan Lewis
$1,000 from George Demetriades Jr., Redfront LLC
$1,000 from John Heflin, attorney at Wilkinson Barker Knauer
$1,000 from Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw
$500, from Charles Matthew Bright, GW Medical Faculty Associates
Bill Rossello
$5,000 from Mark Williams, attorney at Morgan Lewis
$2,000 from Nancy Jennings, cybersecurity defense contractor CACI
$2,000 from Brian Murphy, Navigators
$1,000 from George Demetriades Jr., Redfront LLC
$1,000 from Anne Bigay Ridenhour of Alexandria
Bill Campbell
$500 from William Cromley, real-estate developer
$250 from Raymond Farr, JPMorgan Chase
$250 from Gene Rossi, attorney at Carlton Fields
$200 from Charles Wilson, financial advisor at Davis & Davis
Patrick Moran
$5,000 from former U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8)
$960 from Jeff Franzen, Lincoln Property Co
$960 from Terry Lierman, Summit Global Ventures
$480 from Peter Lawson, Ford Motor Company
$240 from Benjamin Basloe, Sjogrens Foundation
Kevin Harris
$5,000 from Warith Deen, Niagara Gold and Silver
$960 from Dan Brendel, Coast News in Oceanside, Calif.
$480 from Brian Wendroff, Wendroff CPA
$240 from Edward Wendling, Advanced Solutions International
Meronne Teklu
$1,000 from Nini Legesse, United States Patent Trade Office
$500 from Zena Ayalew, Department of Health and Human Services
$500 from Alexander Teklu of Springfield
$500 from Nitirwork Armstrong of Silver Spring, Md.
$250 from Jonathan Krall, Naval Research Laboratory
- Fundraising numbers are from before March 31