Law firm political action committees have contributed more than $10 million to congressional races this year, with donations tending to lean Democratic. Meanwhile, PAC donations from many firms appear to be straying away from the presidential campaigns.
Firms that have given some of the most PAC donations so far this election cycle include those with active lobbying shops in Washington, D.C., such as Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Holland & Knight; Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; K&L Gates; Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, according to data from OpenSecrets.
Brownstein, Akin and K&L Gates’ firm PACs have contributed nearly half a million dollars this election cycle, per OpenSecrets.
According to a Law.com analysis of roughly a dozen PACs from Am Law 200 firms, many of these PAC groups are devoting spending to congressional leadership, committee chairs and members on top committees in the months leading up to Election Day. That’s based on the latest data from the Federal Election Commission.
Firm PACs, which are funded through employee contributions, have donated largely to incumbents’ re-election campaigns in hopes of furthering client priorities in the next congressional session.
However, according to the OpenSecrets analysis of about 133 law firm PACs, firm PACs have favored Democratic candidates with their donations, contributing more than $5.8 million toward Democrats, compared with around $4.6 million toward Republicans, adding up to more than $10.6 million overall.
Some of the re-election campaigns that firm PACs have contributed to include House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA); Rep. Jim Hines (D-CT), ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), chair of the House appropriations committee; Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), House minority whip; and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).
“We generally give to incumbents. So we aren’t participating much in open seats, or if there’s a challenger that’s challenging a sitting incumbent,” said Hogan Lovells partner Michael Bell, who is on the firm’s PAC board. “Ultimately, the decisions are made based on client needs. So as our clients have a particular need or an interest in a particular issue, or it becomes necessary for them to get to know a member of Congress, or they feel it’s important to support a member of Congress that supports their views on a particular issue, those are determining factors for us.”
Some candidates are getting donations from multiple law firm PACs. For instance, Holland & Knight gave $4,000 and Brownstein gave $5,000 to Rep. Cole’s re-election campaign. Akin and Brownstein each contributed $5,000 to Rep. Johnson’s re-election campaign. Meanwhile, Nelson Mullins gave $1,000, K&L Gates gave $2,000 and Hogan Lovells gave $1,000 to Rep. Clark, the Democratic whip.
Federal Election Commission records show a number of firm PACs are contributing the same amount in donations to Democratic and Republican national party committees, a longstanding practice for some firms.
For example, Brownstein’s PAC gave $15,000 to the Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this year.
Akin’s and Holland & Knight’s PACs also contributed $15,000 to the NRCC, DCCC, NRSC, and DSCC. Several other firms also contributed $15,000 to each of the national party committees, the maximum contribution allowed.
Noticeably absent from many firms’ PAC spending, however, were donations to Kamala Harris or Donald Trump’s candidate committee or PACs. That’s another practice that appears to be common for law firm PACs.
“Our pack is a support tool for our government relations practice. And our government relations practice supports our client needs. And while sometimes, yes, those clients need an outcome from the administration, we just find that it’s not necessarily money well spent in terms of contributions to presidential candidates when we think there’s more value in focusing our political contributions at the congressional level,” said Bell, of Hogan Lovells.
Collectively, law firm PAC contributions seem on track to be lower in the 2023-2024 election cycle at $10.6 million than prior election cycles, according to the OpenSecrets data. However, law firm PAC contributions have historically fluctuated.
In 2015 to 2016, law firm PACs contributed $13.2 million to candidates, compared with $13.1 million from 2017 to 2018, and $11.9 million in 2019 to 2020, according to OpenSecrets. And from 2021 to 2022, law firm PACs gave about $11.2 million.
And with the exception of 2015 to 2016, law firm PAC contributions have favored Democrats each election cycle since. In this election cycle (2023-2024), 55% of contributions have gone toward Democrats and 44% to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets.