Penn professors have donated nearly half a million dollars since the beginning of 2023 to federally registered political committees — with the vast majority going to Democratic causes.
An analysis conducted by The Daily Pennsylvanian of data obtained from the Federal Election Commission indicates that members of Penn's faculty gave about $470,000 in political donations to such political committees between Jan. 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024. Around 99.1% of those donations went to Democratic candidates and Democratic-aligned organizations.
The DP's analysis only counts individual contributions to federally registered political committees.
From Jan. 1, 2023 to Dec. 30, 2023 — an off year between the midterm elections and general elections — Penn professors' donations totaled over $122,000. From the beginning of 2024 to Sept. 30, that number nearly tripled to almost $350,000.
Penn faculty donated only a little under $1,200 to WinRed, the fundraising platform for the Republican Party. In addition, Nikki Haley for President, the fundraising site for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, received about $1,300.
The Democratic Party’s grassroots fundraising platform, ActBlue, received almost $90,000 in donations.
Around 45% of all donations from Penn professors since the beginning of 2023 were made after former Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of Practice and President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, with about $215,000 donated since July 21. This includes $130,000 to the Harris Victory Fund, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign fund — which is believed to have set a record for the most money raised for a candidate so quickly after entering a race, at over $1 billion raised in less than three months.
The Harris for President fund — which raises money for both Harris' campaign and other Democratic initiatives around the country — received around $74,000 in donations.
One of the largest recorded individual contributions in a singular day — around $38,000 in late September — was by former Penn President Amy Gutmann, who recently announced a return to the United States and marked the opening of Penn's Amy Gutmann Hall.
Outside of the presidential campaigns, professors have donated around $33,000 to Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), who is facing a contentious race against former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick that may determine the balance of the U.S. Senate. The race with the next largest amount of donations from Penn faculty members was the New Jersey Senate race, in which Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) has received $7,800 from Penn professors.
Much of the money raised by both presidential candidates has been spent in Pennsylvania. More than $538 million has been spent combined in advertising in the critical swing state by the two candidates — $294.7 million by the Democrats and $243.6 million by Republicans. An analysis by the DP in October concluded that Harris’ campaign outspent former President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump’s campaign on digital advertisements targeted to Penn’s ZIP code by around $36,000 since she became the Democratic nominee.
In 2022, Penn faculty donated $300,000 to political causes — the largest amount during a midterm election year to federally registered political committees. During those elections, 99.7% of political donations from Penn faculty went to Democrats.
During the most recent presidential election cycle in 2020, Penn faculty members donated over $1 million to Democratic candidates, the majority of which went to Biden’s campaign. These numbers were atypical from previous presidential election years, when Penn professors collectively donated an average of around $400,000 per year.
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