Utility Industry PACs Benefit GOP This Election Cycle

Investor-owned utility political action committees (PACs) have contributed $8.1 million to Republicans and $5.5 million to Democrats in federal elections this cycle, according to EPI’s analysis of data released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on October 17. The $13.6 million from the industry PACs this cycle have gone to federal candidate and leadership committees, joint fundraising committees, and super PACs. Utility PACs contributed a comparable amount of money in 2020, and similarly favored Republican committees then.

The contributions come at a time when utility-related issues are capturing headlines on the campaign trail, with people’s electric and gas bills rising, power demand projections growing, and forecasts of what a Donald Trump-led White House and a Republican controlled Congress would mean if they enact policies outlined in Project 2025, the policy playbook created by former Trump staffers with the Heritage Foundation.  Those policies include the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act, elimination or gutting of offices within the DOE and EPA, elimination of energy efficiency standards, significant changes to wholesale electricity markets, and the possibility of pushing another emergency declaration to support coal and nuclear power plants.

A significant amount of these utility PAC contributions went to the Republican and Democratic party committees focused on electing their members to Congress, specifically the National Republican Senatorial and Congressional Committees (NRSC and NRCC) and the Democratic Senate and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees (DSCC and DCCC). Other recipients include the Blue Dog PAC, which supports “moderate, fiscally-responsible Democrats,” and the Republican Main Street Partnership PAC that helps Republicans “win in the most highly contested swing districts in the country.” 

Other top recipients this cycle include committees associated with Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Mike Johnson (R-LA), Jason Smith (R-MO), John Curtis (R-UT), who is running for a Senate seat, Frank Pallone (D-NJ), along with Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM). Barrasso and Heinrich are not in jeopardy of losing their seats, but would be next in line to chair the powerful Energy & Natural Resources committee next year, with jurisdiction over utility-related issues, depending on which party controls the Senate. The contributions to committees controlled by the officials safe from challengers allow them to then disburse money to other candidates and party committees.

Nine utility corporations’ PACs, including the Edison Electric Institute’s PAC, comprise a majority of the industry’s contributions this cycle - a near replication from the 2020 cycle. But the Exelon and FirstEnergy PACs stand out for reducing their contributions to federal committees by 57% and 23%, respectively, compared to 2020. Both utility companies have been in the news for corruption scandals in recent years. FirstEnergy was charged federally with conspiring to commit wire fraud, admitted to bribery, and agreed to pay a $230 million legal penalty to avoid prosecution in July 2021. The ‘ComEd Four’ were found guilty of conspiring to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in early 2023. ComEd is the Exelon subsidiary that sells electricity to the Chicago area.

With control of the Senate and House up for grabs, an examination of how utilities give in competitive races shows favor to Democratic incumbents in the Senate and Republicans in the House. 

Utility PACs get involved in competitive Congressional races

Utility PACs have contributed a total of $472,770 directly to Republican House candidates in competitive seats, identified by the nonpartisan sites 270toWin and Cook Political Report, compared to $102,00 to Democratic candidates.

The PACs associated with PG&E, Pinnacle West (parent company of Arizona Public Service), Edison International (parent company of Southern California Edison), NextEra Energy, and Dominion have contributed the most to competitive House candidates – and all heavily favored Republican candidates.

For example, PG&E and Edison International are supporting California Republican Reps. Ken Calvert, Lori Chavez-Deremer, John Duarte, Mike Garcia, Michelle Steel, and David Valadao. Pinnacle West is supporting Arizona Republicans Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert, along with Rep. Ryan Zinke in his Montana race. 

Meanwhile, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Jon Tester (D-MT) are receiving a considerable amount of utility contributions. There are some notable exceptions; the PACs for Pinnacle West and the MDU Resources (parent company of Montana-Dakota Utilities) favor Republicans. While Pinnacle West has contributed $25,000 to support Ruben Gallego in his race against Kari Lake, the utility PAC has funded the campaigns of Republican Senate challengers Larry Hogan in Maryland, Dave McCormack in Pennsylvania, Mike Rogers in Michigan, and Tim Sheehy in Montana. MDU Resources split contributions between Tester and Sheehy, and contributed to Sam Brown’s challenge of Rosen in Nevada.

Utility CEO personal contributions drop

Utility CEOs as a whole have not dipped into the millions of dollars they make in compensation to back federal candidates to the same degree as in 2020, when certain executives spent tens of thousands of dollars to help Republicans maintain control of the Senate and to increase Republicans’ electoral prospects in the House. 

Exelon’s Chris Crane, American Electric Power’s Nick Akins, Dominion’s Tom Farrell, Pinnacle West’s Don Brandt, and Tom Kuhn of the Edison Electric Institute were large personal contributors in the 2020 cycle. These individuals have since retired, and Farrell passed away. 

Pinnacle West’s Jeff Guldner is now the largest contributor to federal committees. Some of Guldner’s contributions have gone to Republican Juan Ciscomani, who is in a competitive House race against Kirsten Engel, Republican Tim Sheehy, who is challenging Senator Jon Tester, and both the Sinema for Arizona and the Sinema Leadership Fund committees prior to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s announcement of not seeking reelection.

Other large contributors in this cycle include NextEra’s John Ketchum, Duke Energy’s Lynn Good, Karen Harbert of the American Gas Association, DTE’s Jerry Norcia, and Edison International’s Pedro Pizarro.

Ketchum contributed to Sinema and to Senators Rick Scott, Martin Heinrich, and Jacky Rosen. Good made a $20,000 contribution to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in May 2024. Norcia has backed Democrats Kristen McDonald and Curtis Hertel in their House races along with Republicans John James and Tim Walberg. Pizarro has helped fund Rep. Adam Schiff’s California Senate race.

Utilities mostly avoid funding presidential candidates; several supported Trump’s challengers

It remains rare to see contributions from utility PACs and CEOs to presidential candidates, particularly to Trump, as it did in 2020. While WEC Energy’s We Energies Foundation gave $2 million and Madison Gas & Electric gave $50,000 to the host committee that funded this year’s Republican National Convention to support the nomination of Trump as the Republican party’s presidential candidate, no utility PACs or a utility CEO has contributed to him this cycle. 

CenterPoint’s PAC gave $500 to Mike Pence’s presidential campaign. NextEra’s PAC gave $2,500 to the Tim Scott Exploratory Committee. NextEra’s Ketchum gave $3,300 to Team DeSantis 2024. MDU Resources’ David Goodin gave $3,300 to North Dakota Doug Burgum’s presidential campaign. AGA’s Harbert gave $3,435 to Nikki Haley For President. Support for either President Biden or Vice President Harris has also been almost non-existent. Beth Owen, CEO of Alliant, gave $100 to the Biden Victory Fund and then $500 to the Harris For President campaign. 

Methodology

Data available here. EPI downloaded investor-owned utility political action committees from the FEC database. Examples of these PACs include the American Electric Power Committee for Responsible Government, Alabama Power Company Employees Federal PAC (Southern Company), CMS Energy Corporation Employees For Better Government Federal PAC (Consumers Energy), along with the PACs run by the Edison Electric Institute and the American Gas Association. EPI then analyzed the contributions to federal candidates, candidates’ joint fundraising committees and leadership PACs, and super PACs involved in the 2024 cycle. EPI did not analyze the contributions made by utility PACs to other industry-associated PACs, such as the National Association of Home Builders PAC and Interstate Natural Gas Association of America PAC. EPI also downloaded investor-owned utility CEO contributions from the FEC database and analyzed their contributions to federal candidates, candidates’ joint fundraising committees and leadership PACs, and super PACs involved in the 2024 cycle. EPI did not analyze the CEO contributions made to their respective utility PACs. Utility PAC dollars originate from the utility employees themselves and might have bylaws in place that govern how contributions are made.

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