State Assemblyman Travis Allen, an Orange County Republican running for California governor, has built his political brand by railing against the policies of Gov. Jerry Brown and state Democrats.

But before he was elected to the Assembly in 2012, Allen made a series of campaign donations to the Democrats he now denounces — including Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state Democratic Party and a congressman who has filed articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

While most of Allen’s donations over the years have been to Republicans, he gave about $2,500 to prominent Golden State Democrats in 2010 and 2011, according to campaign finance statements.

In an email, Allen said his donations were the result of buying tickets to political events.

“As a businessman I was invited to some events by friends, and I purchased tickets to these events,” Allen said. “Attending these events, however, opened my eyes to the damage the Democrats were doing to California, and brought about my decision to do everything in my power to stop them, including running for public office.”

His donations started in August 2010, when he gave $100 to Newsom’s campaign for lieutenant governor. Newsom is now one of his rivals in the 2018 governor’s race. Allen, who lives in Huntington Beach, also gave $250 to the Democratic Party of Orange County’s federal political action committee.

In October 2010, Allen gave $250 to California Sen. Barbara Boxer, $250 to the state Democratic Party and $1,000 to Brown. The donation to Brown was made in the name of the financial planning firm Allen owns, Wealth Strategies Group. All of the other contributions to Democrats were made in his own name.

Allen also gave $250 to “4 for Senate Victory,” a committee that supported Democratic U.S. senators and Senate candidates, in October 2010 — although it’s unclear whether that was a separate donation from the $250 he gave to Boxer. The committee bankrolled candidates like Boxer, Michael Bennet of Colorado and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

Finally, in June 2011, Allen donated $500 to the campaign of Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, who made headlines this year for becoming the first member of Congress to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump.

A large majority of Allen’s political donations have been to Republicans — like $11,000 to committees associated with GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. And ever since Allen was first elected to the Legislature five years ago, all of his campaign contributions appear to be to Republicans.

Trump himself made big donations to Democrats over the years — a history that national Republican primary voters didn’t seem to care about in 2016.

In the 2018 governor’s race, Allen is running against Republican businessman John Cox, as well as Democrats Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. A Berkeley IGS poll in September showed Allen in fourth place in the “top two” June 2018 primary.

But the field may not be set: Former Sacramento-area Republican Congressman Doug Ose told the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that he’s considering jumping into the race.

The state Republican Party may endorse a candidate for governor next year, and Allen’s donations could hurt him among the GOP’s “purists,” predicted Republican consultant Matt Rexroad, who doesn’t work for any of the candidates for governor.

Allen is hardly the first California Republican to have donated to Democrats. In the 2010 governor’s race, Republican Meg Whitman got hit with attack ads for her own donations to Boxer (and she also ran ads against primary opponent Steve Poizner for his donations to 2000 Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore). The free-spending Whitman easily won the GOP nomination.

“In most cases, it’s been something that people can weather,” Rexroad said.

But Bob Mulholland, a longtime California Democratic Party strategist, said that having bankrolled Newsom and Brown is “as bad as getting terminal cancer” for a statewide Republican candidate.

“In this little universe of California Republicans, that is a killer,” predicted Mulholland, who thanked Allen for the donations.

Travis Allen’s donations to Democrats