Almost half of Jeb Bush's war chest has come from donors who previously gave to his brother or father's presidential campaigns, a new analysis has found.
According to CBS News, the analysis of the $120 million Bush has raised was done by
Crowdpac.com, a nonpartisan political research company, which looked at records from the Federal Election Commission.
"The finding puts a numerical exclamation point on the advantage Bush's presidential family gives him when it comes to fundraising," CBS News said.
The review of contributors to the three political committees behind Bush's campaign found that $59.2 million came from first-time Bush donors, while $60.3 million came from donors who had given to the earlier campaigns of President George W. Bush and President George H.W. Bush or both.
"It is a vast network built over decades and it has grown even larger since Gov. Bush announced his candidacy," said one Bush family donor, Dirk Van Dongen, who is a bundler for Jeb. "No other Republican candidate comes close to matching it."
The Bush fundraising machine has outpaced every other GOP candidate in the field, with the leadership political action committee and the super PAC bringing in more than double that of anyone else in the 17-person field.
CBS News said that his style of fundraising is similar to the techniques used by his brother. Top money-raisers, called "Rangers," "Pioneers" and "Mavericks," receive perks such as a recent campaign retreat to the family's Kennebunkport, Maine, compound, complete with appearances of Jeb's parents and special guests.
Bush's camp emphasizes that the campaign and super PAC have a broad base of supporters, many of them new.
A spokesman for the super PAC Right to Rise, Paul Lindsay, said it has a "depth of support and diversity among our donors that spans many regions and backgrounds," CBS News reported.
"The response you hear from donors, including those who have given to previous GOP presidential candidates, is that they want to back a winner and they believe Jeb is the best candidate in the field," Lindsay said, according to CBS News.
Other candidates are also benefiting from family connections.
Hillary Clinton and groups supporting her campaign raised roughly 16 percent from people who also donated to President Bill Clinton.
And more than half of the $8.9 million raised by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul comes from people who had given to his father's campaigns, including his 2012 presidential campaign, CBS News reported.
Despite the deep well of money from Bush's family network, an
analysis by USA Today released Monday showed that Bush appears to have a broader base of support than many of his rivals who are relying on a handful of billionaires to fund their super PACs.
Just 27 percent the $103 million raised by Right to Rise came from donors who gave $1 million or more. By contrast, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's super PACs have the highest percentage of donors giving $1 million or more at 94.5 percent. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry comes in second with 85.8 percent.