The following several pages show how and where Cuban-American money flowed. From almost every perspective, the Democrats maintained a 56 to 60 percent advantage in total money received, whether from Cuban-American individuals or from their PACs. Democrats received more money than did Republicans in six of the eleven election cycles examined; their advantages were greatest in the 1990's when Cuban-American contributions were highest. In the peak cycle, 1995-1996, Democrats received fully 71 percent of all Cuban-American funds, although their share of the money has been on the decline since then.

Of all Cuban-American contributions identified here, 48 percent has been given in the past six years. However, this may be partly explained by soft money to party committees. Because parties were not required to disclose soft money donations until 1991, there is likely to be a significant amount of party money in the 1980's that remains hidden.

The following two charts illustrate significant patterns of Cuban-American political contributions with respect to recipients and party. The first chart shows the breakdown of money from individuals to candidates, party committees and all types of PACs. The second chart looks at individual giving to candidates, party committees and leadership PACs, broken down by party.

To Candidates	$3,890,854
To Party Committees	$3,190,435
To Leadership PACs	$168,500
To Cuban-American PACs	$1,346,658
To Other PACs	$201,085

To Democrats	$4,317,148
To Republicans	$2,904,391
To Third Parties	$25,750

The totals above cover the entire 1979-2000 period, and include contributions to federal candidates and political parties. The solid tilt toward the Democratic party is due in no small part to the contributions of the two top Cuban-American donors, Florida businessmen Alfred Estrada and Paul Cejas, who together account for approximately 26 percent of all Democratic donations. Without those two donors, the party split is more even, with 53 percent of the Cuban-American money going to Democrats and 47 percent to Republicans.

Presidential/Congressional Party Splits

While Democrats received more money overall from the Cuban-American community over the last two decades, there was a significant difference between the patterns to congressional candidates versus presidential candidates. Among congressional candidates, 56 percent of the community's contributions (just over $1.8 million) went to Democrats, while 44 percent ($1.4 million) went to Republicans. But among presidential candidates, Republicans collected 69 percent of Cuban-American contributions ($436,866), with Democrats collecting just 31 percent ($196,800).

The chief beneficiaries of the presidential contributions were George W. Bush and his father. The elder Bush collected $165,225 from Cuban-Americans; his son drew $114,550. As with most presidential candidates, all that money came from individuals, rather than Cuban-American PACs. The top three presidential recipients, the senior Bush, his son and Bob Dole, together accounted for 54 percent of all the money the community spent on presidential contributions since 1979.

Summary of Cuban-American Giving by Election Cycle, 1979-2000

Cycle	Total	From Indivs	From PACs	Soft Money*	To Dems	To Repubs	Dem Pct	GOP Pct
1980	$183,925	$183,925	$0	N/A	$124,350	$50,575	68%	27%
1982	$240,627	$181,720	$58,907	N/A	$82,857	$148,270	34%	62%
1984	$472,550	$301,600	$170,950	N/A	$133,350	$315,700	28%	67%
1986	$430,700	$342,400	$88,300	N/A	$148,361	$215,339	34%	50%
1988	$746,284	$561,637	$184,647	N/A	$400,343	$312,391	54%	42%
1990	$552,741	$399,767	$152,974	N/A	$252,239	$291,027	46%	53%
1992	$923,614	$748,787	$172,000	$2,827	$454,672	$458,632	49%	50%
1994	$1,024,522	$631,727	$167,500	$225,295	$779,746	$229,976	76%	22%
1996	$1,751,393	$1,110,143	$164,550	$476,700	$1,249,761	$499,382	71%	29%
1998	$883,865	$642,815	$110,000	$131,050	$589,415	$287,400	67%	33%
2000	$1,610,981	$1,178,331	$100,500	$332,150	$869,820	$683,761	54%	42%
TOTAL	$8,821,202	$6,282,852	$1,370,328	$1,168,022	$5,084,914	$3,492,453	59%	41%

*Disclosure of soft money donations was first required in 1991.

As seen in the charts on this page, the peak year for Cuban-American political contributions was the 1995-96 election cycle, when the Helms-Burton, which proposed to tightening sanctions on Castro’s Cuba, was being debated in Congress. (See Cuba-Related Legislation) Democrats got the lion’s share of the money that year, as they had in the previous cycle and would again in 1998. This was in contrast to the pattern in earlier years, and in the presidential election years of 1988, 1992 and 2000, when George W. Bush or his father were the GOP presidential nominees.