WASHINGTON — Bankers have contributed more to the Biden-Harris presidential campaign than to President Trump's re-election bid but are giving more to Republicans than Democrats overall this election season, according to an analysis of political spending data.
Just as in the 2020 campaign, bankers are giving more heavily to the former Biden campaign — money that is now controlled by Vice President Kamala Harris — than the Trump campaign.
Harris has been the recipient of roughly $1 million from commercial bankers, while Trump has received about $682,000, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by OpenSecrets.
Those numbers are likely to change as the race goes on. The Securities and Exchange Commission's "pay-to-play" rule could prohibit or chill bankers from donating directly to the Harris campaign.
Other elections and candidates this election cycle, however, have tipped the balance back to the GOP side.
"Bankers — not the Wall Street crowd but at the community bank level — don't get that active in the presidential campaigns," said Camden Fine, president and CEO of Calvert Advisors and former CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America. "They've very active in House and Senate seats, that's where they spend their money because that's where they see they can have the greatest impact on influencing policy."
Commercial bankers have donated more than $16 million to Republican candidates and groups so far for the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. That's compared to less than $10 million to Democratic candidates and groups.
Those results are not unprecedented: for decades,
But for a time, it looked like that trend might shift. The split between Republicans and Democrats nearly evened out during the last presidential election.
In 2020, in the race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, 46.6% of banker donations went to Democrats, compared with 52.9% to Republicans.
This cycle, however, the percentage to Democrats dropped to 36.6%, while the share to Republicans bumped up to 62.6%.
Fine attributes the change to tougher enforcement throughout the Biden administration of financial firms, including banks.
"If you take the fact that the great majority of bankers lean toward the Republican party, that's nothing new," he said. "And then you take the fact that over the last four years, we've had probably the harshest regulatory enforcement environment that we've had certainly since the Great Recession of 2008, bankers naturally are trying to change that dynamic through the elections."
Carter Dougherty, communications director for Americans for Financial Reform, said the uptick in Republican spending among bankers makes sense given some of the rulemakings that the Biden administration has pursued, especially Basel III endgame.
"You have in many cases a good crop of Biden-appointed regulators who are doing their job of protecting consumers and investors, and monied interests don't like that, so they want it to stop," he said.
Although the data on partisan leanings of banker donations considers donations from individuals who happen to work for banks, it also includes the campaign spending arms and political action committees of institutions.
One of these institutions, the American Bankers Association, has publicized ads it has released for congressional races, including one for Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.
And while there's some populist grumblings in the Republican party, including a brand of animosity toward Wall Street banks uncommon among Republicans
"The partisan split is interesting and it reflects the fact that despite some populist musings from Republicans, you haven't really seen that manifest in policy," Dougherty said.
Bankers have thus far donated most heavily to members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.
Still, some of the highest donations from bankers went to Democratic campaigns.
"Institutions are well-oiled machines — they are used to being in politics, and more in the modern era, they are used to sweeping changes in the composition of the legislature and the White House switching over," said Tristan Hightower, a political scientist at Bryant University who studies campaign finance and influence in elections. "And so putting all of your eggs in one basket works as long as that one basket is in charge. When they're not, then all of your eggs are in the wrong place."
Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Jon Tester, D-Mont. — vulnerable Senate Banking Committee members this election cycle — each received more than $200,000 from bankers this election cycle, the data show.
"It would make sense to me that institutions would venture more in both places, identifying members of the nontraditional party that may be amenable to certain things and donating there to get their foot in the door," Hightower said.
