It’s no secret that Big Pharma, the apt nickname for the pharmaceutical lobby that seems to control much of American and global politics, has its fingers in many jars, including those that fund the campaigns of Democrats. Even with that knowledge, it’s still somewhat shocking to see the actual breakdown of 2020 contributions to presidential and congressional candidates—including some who, by reputation, are sworn enemies of this industry.
First, a note on the numbers: Per campaign finance law, individual donors must list their employers when donating to candidates or political action committees. Big Pharma is defined here as the individuals who work for the industry and the companies themselves.
A river of cash
Together, these players invest heavily in political spending, but until recently, that giving has trended very Republican. After the 2018 midterms, for instance, an analysis found that Democrats accounted for only two of six Senate members who received the most in pharma donations. Such a partisan breakdown seemed expected—placing caps on drug pricing, the biggest legislative enemy to pharmaceutical profits, appears on its surface to be a naturally Democratic policy.
But by the 2020 election cycle, albeit with major exceptions, pharma donations to Democrats had overtaken donations to Republicans.
The reasons behind this shift are not all that surprising. Many pharma executives were turned off by President Donald Trump, along with millions of other moderates from the business world. Meanwhile, Joe Biden, who had, since 2019, been considered a shoo-in for the pharma vote among Democratic presidential hopefuls, would easily have been considered a safe bet for the industry and for the presidency, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. He has for at least a decade been joined in tacit pharma approval by centrist members of his party who are aligned with the industry in their opposition to policies like Medicare for All.
Indeed, Biden siding early on with pharma paid off both at the polls and in his coffers, as a breakdown of the industry’s 2020 campaign spending from Open Secrets reveals. Biden got nearly $7.5 million from the pharmaceutical industry—more than $5 million more than the roughly $2.17 million Trump received.
Unusual suspects
More shocking than the giving to Biden and Trump, however, were the six- and seven-figure hauls of pharma money from progressives who, in the past, opposed Big Pharma and championed Medicare for All on the presidential campaign trail. For his reelection campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders, after attacking Biden over taking pharma money in 2019, took just under $1.1 million from the industry. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who also decried the industry during a 2019 presidential debate, took about $615,000 from pharma.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was also a recipient of a good chunk of pharma change during his presidential bid, to the tune of almost $750,000, and both of the victors in Georgia’s Senate runoffs, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock, pulled in $534,010 and $441,175, respectively. In total, Democrats accounted for 13 of the top 20 recipients of pharma dollars during the 2020 elections.
Though it's tempting to attribute the acceptance of these donations to the individual politics of the candidates, it would be overly simplistic to do so—especially given that the candidates listed here are on the left side of the spectrum. These sums represent both a change in the way the traditionally conservative industry is spending and, more importantly, a willingness by Democrats—including those in the party’s progressive wing—to take their money.
The arguments surrounding Big Pharma’s role in politics, especially by progressives, are not likely to end anytime soon. With organizations and members of Congress increasingly championing restrictions on drug pricing as a chief racial and economic justice issue, progressives, their donors and their advocates will need to take a long, hard look at pharma money.
