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“The findings come as higher education groups and other liberal advocacy organizations criticize the Trump administration for proposed changes to how research grants are distributed.”
Just like higher education, and Hollywood, and the media, and…
The College Fix reports:
Nearly 100% of NIH employee donations go to Democrats
Nearly all donations from National Institutes of Health employees went to Democratic candidates or aligned political action committees, a College Fix analysis found.
The findings come as higher education groups and other liberal advocacy organizations criticize the Trump administration for proposed changes to how research grants are distributed.
The proposed change would require grants to align with the political priorities of the administration in charge at the time. However, some groups argue that decisions should be made by ostensibly neutral bureaucrats, not a president’s political appointees.
Federal research grants, like those from the NIH, should use a “neutral program definition,” the Association of American Universities argued in a public comment . The new grant policy would “inject political and ideological considerations into decisions that have historically been based on scientific merit, programmatic objectives established by Congress, and agency expertise,” the group warned.
Yet across the board, NIH employees support Democrats. And that holds true for the supposedly neutral scientists and program managers who influence the grant decision-making process.
The College Fix reviewed nearly 5,500 donations totaling around $320,000 in the Federal Election Commission database from 2023 through mid-August 2026, covering about two election cycles.
Specifically, 96 percent of donations during the 2023-24 election cycle, $262,897, went to Democratic candidates or aligned groups. Only 3.5 percent, or $9,458.36, went to Republican candidates or aligned causes. The remaining half a percent or so went to groups that did not have a clear ideological bent or distributed donations evenly among the two political parties.
The Fix considered a political action committee Democrat or Republican if more than 75 percent of its contributions went to one party.
For the current midterm cycle, $45,748.23 went to Democrats from NIH employees. This represents nearly 99 percent of all donations. Less than .3 percent went to Republican causes.
The top recipients of Democratic donations were ActBlue, Harris for President, and the Harris Victory Fund. Top Republican aligned recipients were processing platform WinRed, and two Trump-aligned committees, Never Surrender, Inc., and the Trump National Committee JFC, Inc.
Donations tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.