University of California staffers, Google employees are biggest donors to Clinton campaign

No. 1: University of California

Contributors from the U.C. system gave $1.2 million to the Hillary Clinton campaign.

(This number reflects money given directly to the campaign, not to super PACs supporting candidates.) less No. 1: University of California

Contributors from the U.C. system gave $1.2 million to the Hillary Clinton campaign.

(This number reflects money given directly to the campaign, not to super PACs supporting ... more Photo: MICHAEL MALONEY, SFC Photo: MICHAEL MALONEY, SFC Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close University of California staffers, Google employees are biggest donors to Clinton campaign 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Employees of the University of California are the largest source of cash from a single bloc of donors to the Hillary Clinton Campaign, according to a McClatchy report based on numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Individuals affiliated with Alphabet, Inc., Google's parent company, are the second biggest source of donations.

University employees gave $1.2 million to Clinton, who has been endorsed by a number of prominent teachers unions. Clinton has also earned the backing of many in the tech sector (Of the $8.1 million given by tech employees or executives, Clinton got 95 percent and Donald Trump 4 percent, according to Crowdpac, a nonpartisan group tracking campaign donations.)

But how UC employees top the $1.1 million forked over by employees of Alphabet? After all, doesn't a Google engineer make more than a UC professor?

"At first blush, I'm surprised," says Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School. "People who work at U.C. make a lot less than people who work at Google or Alphabet, Inc., so in that sense it's surprising, but you have to think about the size of the employer."

And in this case, number of workers probably makes a big difference as U.C. has some 180,000 employees, more than twice as many as Alphabet, Inc.

What's more, the numbers represent dollars given to campaigns, not PACS, and an individual can donate no more than $2,700 to a campaign. In other words, that Google engineer earning $180,000 can still only contribute $2,700.

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