Daniel Heuer | Staff Photographer
Students study and walk through Kogan Plaza.
University community members donated more than half a million dollars to political campaigns and committees during the 2024 election cycle, according to a nonprofit campaign finance organization.
Faculty, staff, contractors and students who listed their employer as GW to the Federal Election Commission donated $551,752 to political committees, with 97.19 percent of contributions going to Democratic or Democratic-affiliated committees and 2.09 percent of contributions going to Republican or Republican-affiliated committees, according to OpenSecrets data. GW community members donated the largest sum of any candidate to the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, totaling $206,796, and gave a total of $1,623 to the campaign of former President Donald Trump — the most they gave to a Republican candidate or affiliated group.
Methodology: OpenSecrets analyzes contributions from political action committees and individuals giving $200 or more in a year. Figures for the current election cycle are based on data released on Oct. 17, 2024. Contributors include all those who listed their employer as GW, including faculty, staff, contractors and students.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which are tasked with turning their respective chambers blue, received $18,101 and $19,328, respectively, from GW community members.
The congressional candidate campaign that received the most donations from GW community members was Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat running to represent Maryland in the Senate against former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican. Community members donated $26,711 to Alsobrooks during the 2023-24 election cycle, who ran in a contentious Democratic primary.
GW community members also donated to the campaigns of candidates in a number of competitive races outside of the DMV area, including Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana and Jacky Rosen of Nevada. They also contributed to the campaigns of Ruben Gallego, a Republican Arizona congressman, and Colin Allred, a Democratic congressman from Texas who are both running for Senate.
Among local universities, Georgetown University community members donated the most money this cycle with $765,363 in contributions, followed by GW, with their most donated-to candidate being Harris with $277,357 in contributions. Gallaudet University community members donated the least money among the universities with $11,068 total contributions.
GW ranked No. 7 among the University’s 12 peer schools for total campaign donations, with community members from Tufts University contributing the most during this cycle, with $1.6 million in donations, followed by New York University with $1.2 million in donations. Tulane University donated the least among GW’s 12 peers, with a total of $133,964.
GW community members’ donations are slightly under half of contributions from the 2020 election, when they contributed $1,374,219, a record-breaking year for campaign expenditures at both GW and in general. The amount donated during the 2024 cycle has eclipsed donation totals during the 2016, 2012 and 2008 elections.
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