--- title: Marco Rubio Won Big When Jeb Bush’s Donors Defected description: Donors who left the Bush camp have given $4.2 million to Rubio canonical: https://time.com/4234433/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-donors/ author: Pratheek Rebala article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-24T16:39:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:58.296Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rubio Won Big When Jeb Bush’s Donors Defected og:description: Donors who left the Bush camp have given $4.2 million to Rubio og:url: https://time.com/4234433/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-donors/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rubio Won Big When Jeb Bush’s Donors Defected twitter:description: Donors who left the Bush camp have given $4.2 million to Rubio twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Marco Rubio Winning Big When Jeb Bush’s Donors Defect > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8e35312b-4ddb-48be-8ff1-24fc254219b2&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Pratheek Rebala](https://time.com/author/pratheek-rebala/) and [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/) Feb 24, 2016 4:39 PM UTC by [Pratheek Rebala](https://time.com/author/pratheek-rebala/) and [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/) Feb 24, 2016 4:39 PM UTC Back when former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush seemed like an [extremely viable candidate](http://time.com/3968132/bill-clinton-george-bush-interview/) for his party’s nomination, loads of donors [jumped on board](http://time.com/3733121/jeb-bush-next-in-line/), giving more than $150 million to the campaign and outside committees supporting the son and brother of former presidents. As his candidacy took one blow after another from lackluster debate performances and [endless needling](http://time.com/4162396/jeb-bush-donald-trump-debate/) from Donald Trump, many of those early donors jumped ship in droves. More than a few of them landed with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. TIME has identified 1,238 donors who between March 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2015, wrote their first check to Bush or one of his three associated PACs, then later chose to give to a different candidate or his or her PACs. Of those defectors, 914 would go on to pour $4.2 million into Rubio’s campaign, millions more than the next closest benefactor New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who like Bush has since abandoned the race. But there are some odd changes of allegiance as well. Of those donors, 31 gave to Trump, 144 gave to Hillary Clinton, and two gave to Jim Gilmore. Below is a chart of every candidate and how much they received from these original Bush donors. _Source: Federal Election Commission. Donors cover March 1, 2015 – Dec. 31, 2015._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4234433/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-donors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4234433/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-donors/"},"headline":"Marco Rubio Winning Big When Jeb Bush’s Donors Defect","datePublished":"2016-02-24T16:39:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:58.296Z","description":"Donors who left the Bush camp have given $4.2 million to the first-term Florida Senator","url":"https://time.com/4234433/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-donors/","keywords":["2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Pratheek Rebala","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/pratheek-rebala/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Wilson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4234433/marco-rubio-jeb-bush-donors/","name":"Marco Rubio Winning Big When Jeb Bush’s Donors Defect"}}]}] ```