By Haddon Libby
Fifteen years ago, the Supreme court ruled on a court case between Citizens United and the Federal Election Commission. In that ruling, the Supreme Court decided that campaign contributions of unlimited amounts were a protected right under the First Amendment – freedom of speech.
Over the last six years, corporations have donated $2.5 billion to political campaigns, parties or Political Action Committees. That level of contribution has a tendency to overwhelm whatever a regular person can give.
OpenSecrets.org is one of the better places to see how much a person or company has donated as well as where those funds were donated.
During the 2024 election cycle, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee gave the most at $35 million with 62% toward Democrats. Major sponsors of the committee included the founders of Home Depot, Elliott Management and WhatsApp.
Google was second at $15 million (91% to Democrats) followed by the University of California at $13.2 million (98% Democrat), Blackstone Group ($8 million and 87% Republican), Renaissance Technologies ($5.5 million and 96% Democrat), Energy Transfer ($5.3 million and 100% Republican), Elliott Management ($4.4 million and 99% Republican), International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ($4.4 million and 98% Democrat), Lone Pine Capital ($3.7 million and 100% Democrat) and Koch Inc. ($3.5 million and 100% Republican).
When we add in the contributions of company executives, SpaceX gave the most at $279 million thanks to Elon Musk. 99.7% of these funds went to the Trump campaign via America PAC. One of Musk’s shadier activities was to start a PAC that used Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s name in misleading advertisements that claimed she and Trump shared abortion views.
The second biggest contributor was Uline at $139.5 million with all but $9,300 going to Republicans. Uline is owned by Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein. Richard is an heir to the Schlitz brewing fortune.
The Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse was third at $136.4 million with all funds given to Republicans. The Adelsons made their initial fortune by selling COMDEX, a computer trade show for $862 million in the 1970s. The couple went on to found Las Vegas Sands Company with properties including The Venetian in Las Vegas.
Two investment firms, Citadel and Susquehanna, round out the $100 million donation club at $105 million and $100 million, respectively. Both gave just over $100,000 to Democrats. Citadel donations are due to its founder Kennett Griffin with Susquehanna donations largely due to Jeff Yass.
To find a large Democratic donor, we have to go to the tenth largest political donor at $64 million, Democracy PAC, run by George Soros and his son.
Cryptocurrency firm Ripple was the second biggest Democratic donor at $61 million due to contributions by its CEO, Brad Garlinghouse.
Another popular site is Goods Unite Us. Their website was created to help Financial Advisors craft investment portfolios that do not run afoul with the politics of politically-sensitive clients. This group shares how much each company gave to each political party and where those funds were used. It also shows the political leanings associated with the holdings in different Exchange Traded Funds.
As an example, Home Depot donations go to Republicans 62% of the time. This is probably not much of a surprise given that Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of the company has consistently voiced his support of Donald Trump. During the 2024 election cycle, $5.2 million was donated. Of these funds, $336,000 was given to the National Republican Congress/Senatorial Committees with $153,000 to Donald Trump. The Democratic Senatorial Committee received $35,000 with Kamala Harris receiving $257,000.
Home Depot’s primary competitor, Lowe’s, gave 56% of its $1.1 million in contributions to Republicans. The company itself gave slightly more to Democrats than Republicans.
The Walt Disney Company gave $3.25 million during the election cycle. The difference with their giving was that the company itself donated just $222,000 while its employees gave the rest. Of total donations, nine in ten dollars went to Democrats.
Haddon Libby is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Winslow Drake Investment Management, a Fiduciary RIA firm. For more information on our services, please visit www.WinslowDrake.com.
