John Mannion

Republican Kailee Buller turned to dozens of lobbyists and executives in the food and agriculture industry for money to kick start her campaign for Congress in Central New York, new federal records show.

Buller last week touted that she raised $200,000 in March – a robust sum for a first-time candidate – in her bid to unseat Rep. John Mannion, D-Geddes, in the 22nd Congressional District.

A detailed accounting of her fundraising filed Wednesday night with the Federal Election Commission shows she took in most of that money from people with ties to the agriculture industry in Washington, D.C.

Out of more than 100 individual donors to Buller, only five live in the Central New York district that Buller wants to represent in Congress, according to her campaign’s public disclosure report.

Buller, 37, has worked as a food and agriculture industry lobbyist in Washington between political appointments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture during both of President Donald Trump’s administrations.

Buller resigned from her job in February as chief of staff for USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and moved back to her native Auburn to run for Congress. She had spent the previous 15 years in Washington.

Rollins, with a donation of $1,041, was among several senior USDA officials to contribute to Buller’s campaign, the records show.

Those officials include Michael Boren, a multimillionaire Idaho rancher that Trump chose as USDA undersecretary to oversee the U.S. Forest Service. Boren and his wife, Joan Boren, each donated $7,000, the maximum allowed under federal campaign finance law.

USDA Acting Undersecretary for Rural Development Todd Lindsey and his wife, Cassy Lindsey, also contributed a combined $14,000.

Buller’s list of donors includes leaders of almost every big agriculture and food lobbying organization in Washington.

Executives representing the corn, cotton, rice, soybean, sugar, spice, seed oil, fisheries, frozen food, grocery, beef and dairy industries gave Buller individual contributions totaling more than $25,000, according to the records.

Until February, Buller played a key role in regulating those industries. She directly supervised 70 senior deputies at the USDA, an agency with 100,000 employees who oversee federal farm policies, food stamp and nutrition programs, and conservation programs that protect forests and other natural resources.

Buller previously served as president and CEO of the National Oilseed Processors Association, a national trade association that represents the U.S. soybean, canola, and sunflower seed industries. She also spent three years as president of the Edible Oil Producers Association, another organization that lobbies Congress and federal officials.

Earlier in her career, she worked for the Corn Refiners Association, the Snack Food Association and the National Grocers Association, representing independent grocers.

Buller’s five donors from Central New York included one from her hometown of Auburn. Her father, Brian Ingerson, contributed the maximum of $7,000.

Her only contributor in Onondaga County was Frank H. Suits Jr., of Fayetteville, chief executive officer of paving company Suit-Kote and a longtime Trump supporter.

Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, toured Suit-Kote in 2018. Suits contributed the $7,000 maximum to Buller.

In addition to the donations, Buller put her own money into the campaign. She disclosed a $22,000 personal loan to the campaign, about 10 percent of her fundraising haul. Under federal rules, candidates can pay back those loans using money raised later in the campaign.

Buller tried to make a statement with her fundraising, showing she’s a viable candidate after a late entry into the race against Mannion, a first-term congressman with a sizable fundraising advantage.

Mannion’s campaign filed a report with the FEC showing he raised more than $428,000 in the first three months of 2026. He ended the quarter with more than $1.56 million in his campaign bank account.

Mannion raised more than $302,000 from individual donors and $97,249 from political action committees representing labor unions and corporations.

His prominent Central New York donors this past quarter included local developers Ryan Benz ($3,500) and Luke Esposito ($1,000), Syracuse lawyer Kevin McAuliffe ($3,750) and former Syracuse mayor Stephanie Miner ($500).

Mannion’s largest PAC donors, giving $5,000 apiece, were the American Federation of Teachers (a national teachers union) and Teachers Insurance Annuity Association.

Mannion, a former science teacher in the West Genesee School District, was a longtime labor leader with New York State United Teachers.

Prominent political analysts in Washington have rated the 22nd District as a safe Democratic seat heading into the midterm elections.

A potential independent candidate in the 22nd District race, Will Staton of Syracuse, told the FEC he raised no money in the first quarter. Staton has not yet filed the independent petitions needed to secure a spot on the November ballot.

The 22nd Congressional District spans all of Onondaga and Madison counties, and parts of Cayuga, Cortland and Oneida counties.