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GREENWICH, Conn. Greenwich residents have overwhelmingly contributed to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, with more than $1.6 million donated to his campaign.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has received about $92,000 from Greenwich residents during the election cycle.
Overall in Connecticut, Romney has raised $3,344,992, according to OpenSecrets.org, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics. The research group, based in Washington, D.C., is tracking money in U.S. politics. According to the center, Greenwich residents contribute 121 times as much as the average zip code in the United States.
In Greenwich, residents have donated a total $602,400 to Romneys individual campaign. In addition, $1,010,000 has been given to Restore Our Future, a political action committee created to support Romney. Political action committees can accept unlimited contributions.
The largest donations to the Romney campaign have come from Chris Shumway, the CEO of Shumway Capital Investments, with $750,000 and Paul Tudor Jones II of Tudor Investment Corporation, with $200,000. In the 2008 presidential election, Tudor Jones donated and hosted a fundraiser for Obama.
In the state overall, Obama has raised $1,587,122. In Greenwich, donors have given a total of $92,352 for his campaign.
In the Congressional election in District 4, Rep. Jim Himes (D) is the overwhelming fundraising front runner. He has raised $1,789,840 in the entire district, with $146,025 of that amount from Greenwich. Steve Obsitnik (R) has raised $638,562 overall, with $24,250 from Greenwich. Richard Wieland (R) has raised $540,626, but zero from Greenwich. Christopher Meek (R) has raised $366,432, with $27,000 from Greenwich. David Scott Orner (R) has raised $71,136, with zero from Greenwich.
In the race to succeed outgoing U.S. Sen Joe Lieberman, U.S. Rep. Christopher Murphy (D) is leading fundraising with $4,377,685 overall in Connecticut. Greenwich residents have contributed $114,688 of that number to Murphy.
In the state, former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz (D) has raised $1,095,940, with $57,000 from Greenwich. Candidate William Tong (D) has raised $1,062,973, with $44,038 from Greenwich.
For the Republican ticket, Linda McMahon has raised $3,729,455, with $62,835 of that number from Greenwich. McMahons opponent, former Congressman Christopher Shays raised $1,095,940 overall, with $87,700 in Greenwich. Shays just had a fundraiser at a private Greenwich estate last week featuring Republican strategist Karl Rove.
While fundraising has swayed toward Romney in Greenwich and throughout Connecticut, according to a poll released last week by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, Obama leads Romney 50 percent to 38 percent. Obama gets a 53 percent to 43 percent approval rating and a 52 percent to 41 percent favorability rating. Romney gets a negative 34 percent to 42 percent favorability rating.
"While President Barack Obama has a comfortable double digit lead over Gov. Mitt Romney, McMahon is running in a close race against Murphy. With Republicans needing to pick up only four seats to win control of the U.S. Senate, the national spotlight could turn on this competitive Senate race to fill Sen. Joe Lieberman's seat," said poll director Douglas Schwartz, in a prepared statement.
According to the poll, McMahon leads Shays 59 percent to 30 percent, compared with McMahons lead of 51 percent to 42 percent in a poll released March 22.
In a race two years ago for the U.S. Senate, McMahon won in the Republican primary against two opponents but lost to Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the general election.
In the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Murphy leads former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz 50 percent to 20 percent, compared with a 37 percent to 25 percent lead by Murphy in the poll released March 22.
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