Penn administrators donated more than $12,000 to presidential and congressional candidates and political action committees — a 42% drop from the 2020 election cycle.
The data — collected from the Federal Election Commission — shows that a vast majority of the $12,065 in donations from the University's senior administrators, administrators in the Provost's Office, and Penn's 12 deans have gone toward Democratic causes during the 2024 election cycle from Nov. 15, 2022 to Nov. 5, 2024.
Vice President Kamala Harris received more than $5,100 in donations for her 2024 campaign, split between her Harris for President fund and the Harris Victory Fund, which donates to both the Harris campaign and other Democratic causes. During the same time period, no donations were made to former President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
President and former Penn Professor of Presidential Practice Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2024 race before dropping out on July 21 following a flawed debate performance in June. Donations made to his campaign were transferred to the Harris campaign.
A request for comment was left with a University spokesperson and several members of Penn's administration.
During the 2020 election cycle, defined as Nov. 15, 2018 to Nov. 3, 2020, members of Penn's administration contributed just over $20,000 in political donations, significantly more that the current cycle.
Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign received more monetary support from members of Penn's administration than Harris’ presidential campaign — totaling just under $10,000 in donations, about double the amount of money Harris has received. Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign received $1,300 from sole contributor Vice President of Audit, Compliance, and Privacy Greg Pellicano.
University Chaplain Chaz Howard donated $10 to former University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Okla.) 2020 presidential campaign — making him the only member of Penn's administration to donate to a presidential candidate that is not Harris, Trump, or Biden during the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.
In this election cycle, administration members donated just over $2,000 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic campaigns. Only around $100 was donated to WinRed, a political action committee for Republican campaigns, contributed solely by Pellicano. This marks a sharp decrease from the 2020 election cycle, where Penn administrators donated around $4,500 to ActBlue causes. $930 was donated to WinRed in 2020, where Pellicano was again the only donor.
For Sen. Bob Casey's (D-Pa.) 2024 reelection campaign, Penn administrators donated more than $4,000. Casey is currently running for his fourth Senate term against Republican challenger Dave McCormick. Historically, Interim President Larry Jameson has supported Casey in his campaign, starting in 2012 — however, he has not donated to him since 2019.
The amount of monetary support for Casey is triple the amount Penn administrators donated to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) in his campaign for Senate, which ran from Feb. 8, 2021 to Nov. 5, 2022.
Penn administration’s support for Democratic causes aligns with the political leanings of Penn's faculty, where over $1 million was donated to Democratic candidates in 2020. Since 2023, 99.1% of political donations from Penn faculty have been to Democratic causes.
Staff reporter Jake Konigsburg contributed reporting.
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