Yes, but only a handful.
As Donald Trump barrels into the general election, he’s reportedly seen an early cluster of support from Alexandria, Virginia. On Tuesday, a blogger at RedBrickTown snapped a photo of a silver Honda Accord sporting Trump decal. It seemed to be a trend: “This is the 15th car I’ve seen around town recently with some sort of Donald Trump bumper sticker,” the blogger noted.
That’s anecdotal, of course, but the observation was thought to have some legs. A recent Wall Street Journal analysis of Hillary Clinton and Trump money wells across the country found that Alexandria clocked in at sixth place for individual donations to the real estate mogul. Those numbers, culled from Federal Election Commission data, put the 22314 zip code at $11,619 in donations, right behind places like Pompano Beach, Florida and Rocklin, California.
That data alone, however, suggests a flurry of support that may not actually exist. Our own peek into the FEC data shows that the overwhelming bulk of Alexandria’s contributions comes from the Conservative Action Fund, which lists its headquarters at 203 South Union Street in Old Town, a short distance from Trump’s DC-area headquarters at 675 North Washington Street. The Shawn McCutcheon-founded group — long lambasted as a “scam” PAC — gave $10,030.24 on December 4, 2015. But those dollars, of course, are earmarked donations from individuals who could live anywhere in the country, and have simply chosen to shuttle their money through an Alexandria-based PAC.
Indeed, FEC filings show that only five Alexandria residents have given to Trump. They include former Washington Times editorial page editor—and reported owner of a Trump-branded suit—Brett Decker, and Arizona Representative David Schweikert‘s chief of staff, Oliver Schwab.
Elaina Plott joined Washingtonian in June 2016 as a staff writer. She has written about her past life as an Ann Coulter fangirl, how the Obamas changed Washington, and the rise and fall of Roll Call. She previously covered Congress for National Review. Her writing has appeared in the New York Observer, GQ, and Harper’s Bazaar.
