Presidential Campaign Funds by MU and WVU Employees

In the 2008 Presidential Election, employees from both Marshall University and West Virginia University favored Barack Obama, according to campaign contribution records.

Federal Election Commission records say overall, West Virginians donated about $2.3 million dollars in the 2008 Presidential Election. More than $34,000 of that came from people who claimed to be employees of Marshall and WVU. Sixty individuals from both universities donated funds to the campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul and John McCain.

WVU biologist Andrew Cockburn, an

Obama donor, says he pitched in because it needed to be done.

“I thought we needed a change,” Cockburn said. He says he wasn’t happy with what the Republican Party was doing and felt he

needed to help make a difference.

Cockburn donated $500 to then Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. He said if Hillary Clinton had been the Democratic Party’s choice – he would have given to her campaign, too.

Donating time and money is a way Cockburn says he is able to get his hands in national politics. “I’ve been donating to campaigns fairly regularly over the last 20 years or so,” he said. “This one, I cared about more than most.

Cockburn says he thinks people in Morgantown really care about presidential politics. “We have a lot of professors here that are really involved in politics.”

Fifty other mountaineer professors also donated. WVU employees donated more than $30,000 to the campaigns of Obama, Clinton, Paul and McCain. About 60% of that money – $17,616 – was given to Obama’s Campaign.

At Marshall University, nine employees claimed to have donated about $3,700 to the 2008 campaign. The most of that money – $2,448 – was given to Obama.

In West Virginia, the Democratic Party raked in the most cash, nearly $1.7 million, and the highest funds were for Obama at $942,263. The GOP brought in $644,242, and the republican with the most donations was McCain with $294,730.