BlackRock’s affiliates have been making numerous high-dollar contributions to political candidates this election cycle — and an overwhelming majority of these donations have gone to Democrats, figures from campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets reveal. Reports show that $637,065 has gone to Democrats seeking federal office while only $374,235 has gone to Republicans, according to the organization.
The breakdown Open Secrets provides of these figures shows that BlackRock’s affiliates are propping up some of the most embattled Democrats. Of the top 10 recipients of BlackRock support that Open Secrets report, four are Democrat candidates who are considered to be struggling against extremely close Republican challengers.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester received $51,400 in donations. Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown received $48,200. Vice President Kamala Harris received $46,881, while Virginia’s Sen. Mark Warner received $46,700.
Half of these candidates trail several points behind their competitors in recent polling.
In the case of Brown, the longtime senator was initially expected to be vulnerable in his electoral bid and he is campaigning in a state Trump has consistently carried in the electoral college.
Warner is not up for reelection until 2026. However, polls in the 2024 election have, at different times, shown Democrat vulnerabilities in the Old Dominion.
Moreover, Trump has campaigned with the popular Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who will be term-limited in 2025 and is widely speculated to be considering a senate run against Warner in 2026.
The other top donations went to three organizations meant to elect Democrats, two GOP-oriented organizations, and one Republican candidate for Congress in Wisconsin, although the collective value of these disbursements was far smaller than those to Democrats.
BlackRock is an asset manager with connections to almost every conceivable industry. It is a political lightning rod in many circles because of the company’s support for “woke” causes such as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, although its emphasis on these efforts appears to be scaling back, DX reported.
The company has been the subject of divestment by sovereign wealth funds in Texas because of a climate initiative that many Texan officials perceived as investment discrimination against Texas’s key oil and gas industry, DX reported. BlackRock’s executives denied the allegations and later reduced the scope of the climate program.
This revelation about BlackRock’s financial support for political candidates comes after The Dallas Express previously reported that the Harris campaign and a wide array of Democrat and Republican organizations were supported by COVID-19 vaccine developer Pfizer. The Trump campaign also received a substantial but relatively smaller level of support from the pharmaceutical giant.
In compliance with federal law, BlackRock did not donate directly but through its various affiliates, including PACs, employees, owners, and other connections.