Why so many women are raising money for Hillary Clinton [View all]

[yallerdawg]

WaPo, by Matea Gold

LOS ANGELES — Fran Seegull, the chief investment officer of a nonprofit investment firm, has worked in the elite fields of philanthropy and venture capital. But the Santa Monica resident had never dipped her toe into the world of political fundraising.

That changed when she saw Hillary Rodham Clinton gearing up for another presidential run. Seegull donated to her 2008 campaign, but this time she wanted to do more. That meant raising campaign cash, she realized.

“I don’t think women have had as significant a seat at the table as they could and should,” Seegull said.

Energized by the prospect of helping the former secretary of state make history, many women are activating their personal networks for the first time to pool contributions for her campaign, helping Clinton tap into new sources of cash as she assembles what is expected to be a more-than-$1­ billion operation.

Already, more than 60 percent of Clinton’s donors are women, according to a campaign official. That puts her on track to outstrip the presidential high-water mark set by President Obama in 2012, when 47 percent of donors who gave him more than $200 were women, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The surge of female-driven contributions for Clinton could fuel a partisan divide when it comes to gender and political money. In 2012, women gave 52 percent of their federal donations to Democratic candidates, a slight edge the party has held since 1998, according to the center.

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