Donald Trump will make his first appearance as the official Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday in Texas.
The real estate magnate is scheduled to stop through Fort Worth and Austin for a series of private fundraisers capped off with a rally at the state’s capital.
According to Brian Haley, the former financial director for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, Trump isn’t necessarily looking to pick up more votes in Texas. Recent polls show Trump as the likely candidate to walk away with a Texas victory in November.
“Mr. Trump is here to raise money,” Haley said. “That is the only reason a Republican presidential candidate would come to Texas.”
According to the Federal Election Commission, Texas is the third largest donor state, contributing a total of $55.6 million dollars to the candidates running in the 2016 presidential election.
“Texans are generous,” Haley said. “They’re passionate, and they want to be involved in politics.”
The deep-red state has stayed consistent with it’s “right-leaning” voting history, giving more than twice as much to Republican candidates this election cycle than the Democratic candidates.
However, when you compare the parties’ two nominees side by side, Donald Trump is losing the money race. Trump has raised roughly $5 million in Texas, while his opponent Hillary Clinton has raked in over $13.3 million.
“Texas is going to vote for the Republican candidate for president, no matter what happens,” Political consultant Mark Nathan said. “But there is some question about fundraising, and Hillary Clinton has out-raised Donald Trump in Texas so far this year, which is really an extraordinary thing.”
Nathan said historically candidates treat Texas “like an ATM machine”, stopping through to pick up donations rather than spend money on winning over voters.
“We have a large group of super donors in Texas, very wealthy individuals who give large contributions to political candidates,” Nathan said. “but candidates don’t end up spending money here because it’s a ‘give me’ really for Republican candidates.”
Despite Trump’s setback in regards to Texas donations, Nathan said the Republican candidate will still likely win the state in November.
“The state is going to vote for Donald Trump,” Nathan said, “all be it by a very small margin, probably smaller than most Republican candidates have seen in the past 40 or 50 years. But he’s here for money, primarily.”
