WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton has outraised her fellow Democratic candidates in the 2016 campaign and has collected more big-dollar contributions than any other candidate in either party in 26 states.
In nine states, including Illinois and Colorado, Clinton has pulled in more money than all of the Republican hopefuls combined, according to an Associated Press analysis of individual donors who gave at least $200 since January. Smaller donors aren't required to be identified.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was the second-best fundraiser, leading rivals in both parties in 10 states, including Alaska and Nebraska. Republicans Jeb Bush of Florida and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side were the only other candidates to top the money race in more than one state.
Some candidates, including Sanders, Carson and billionaire businessman Donald Trump, are drawing most of their funding from small donors, whose identities don't have to be disclosed to federal regulators. But Clinton's earning of larger checks underscores her early fundraising advantage among the medium- and large-dollar donors who are important in funding increasingly expensive presidential campaigns.
All told, the 22 major-party presidential candidates -- including two who recently dropped out -- have raised $274 million for their official campaigns. Clinton's campaign alone accounts for 28 percent of that haul. The analysis does not include super political action committees, outside groups that can raise unlimited amounts of money but cannot coordinate spending with candidates' official campaigns.
The review covered campaign contributions between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 among those who gave more than $200, the point at which federal law requires campaigns to list details about donors. The data was updated Thursday night when candidates filed their most recent fundraising reports to the Federal Election Commission.
Among Republicans, Carson's $30 million for the year puts him ahead of Cruz, who is in second place with a total of $26.5 million raised. Bush is in third, with $24.8 million.
The data show home-state fundraising advantages held for many of the candidates: Clinton led in New York, where she was elected senator, and in Arkansas, where her husband was governor. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, has raised $1.2 million total in the past three months, down from $2 million raised in the previous quarter.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sanders, Vermont's independent senator, all led fundraising for their respective states.
Cruz was the best fundraiser in the Lone Star State, more than tripling Bush's take in a state that counts his father and brother as residents.
Bush does hold command of fundraising in his home state of Florida, raising at least $2 million more in donations of at least $200 than Republican rival Marco Rubio, one of the state's senators and its former speaker of the house.
Rubio, who has collected about $15.5 million for his presidential run since the start of the year, did not win the fundraising race in any single state; in fact, he was never better than third place anywhere in the money race, the data show. Bush also bested Rubio in Nevada, where Rubio spent much of his boyhood, though Clinton raised more there than the two of them combined.
A Section on 10/17/2015