Here’s another birds-eye view of the contributions taken in by state and local candidates in Hawaii during 2019.

It seems the the idea of campaign coffers being primarily dependent on corporations and businesses is, well, incorrect. At least as far as Hawaii candidates go.

Surprisingly, perhaps, individuals accounted for over 75 percent of all contributions to state and local candidates, according to data published by the Campaign Spending Commission. They gave $3.8 million out of the total $5 million contributed during 2019.

Political action committees, corporations and other businesses, unions, and professional associations together accounted for almost 21 percent of the total.

The law provides that contributions from businesses which are sole proprietorships, owned and operated by an individual, are treated as individual contributions.

In additional to individuals, the categories used in the campaign spending reports are:

Noncandidate committee: Primarily political action committees and unions, although in some cases corporate contributions also seem to be included.

Other entities: This category includes businesses (corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships), professional or business associations, and campaign committees of other candidates. Some candidates appear to report political action committees in this category as well.

Immediate family: According to law, the candidate’s immediate family is defined as a candidate’s spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, child, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister, along with their spouses or reciprocal beneficiaries.

It is possible the pattern changes in an election year, but that will have to wait for future post.

One additional note: “Independent expenditures,” those made without the consent of or coordination with the candidate’s campaign, are not considered contributions to the candidate and have not been included in this analysis. That’s another subject for a future post.

Campaign Contributions 2019–By source