Data show how the industry is shifting toward Republicans for the 2026 races
By Chris Cumming
Private equity's political spending has shifted rightward, as the Trump administration's deregulatory efforts increasingly contrast with progressive Democrats' critical posture toward the industry.
Employees of private-equity and other investment firms have favored Republicans by a 30-point margin through June in campaign contributions for this year's congressional races, according to data from OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending. The industry has given about $60.2 million to all candidates and party committees, with a 65% to 35% preference for Republicans.
The rightward tilt is even starker in spending on outside groups, which unlike direct donations to candidates have no legal limits. Private equity gave about $90 million to conservative groups and less than $17 million to liberal groups through June, the OpenSecrets data show.
This partisan turn is unusual for the industry, which generally keeps its campaign contributions more or less balanced between the two major parties. Industry donors modestly favored Democrats in the four prior election cycles, and haven't shown such a decisive tilt toward either party since 2014, when they preferred the GOP by 30 percentage points.
Business interests typically favor incumbents, an advantage for Republicans, who control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Republicans' fundraising apparatus this year has also far outperformed the Democrats', which has been abandoned by major donors.
But private equity's turn to Republicans also reflects concerns with the Democrats' direction, said James Maloney, founder and managing partner of lobbying and communications firm Tiger Hill Partners.
"The two main causes of the shift are the progressive profile of many of the Democratic candidates, and signs that current Democratic leadership plans to scrutinize the industry if they are in the majority," said Maloney, who formerly led public affairs for the American Investment Council, private equity's main lobbying group.
The pro-Republican shift this election cycle isn't unique to private equity. Most business sectors have seen a 10- to 15-percentage-point swing toward Republicans compared with 2024, said Andrew Mayersohn, a researcher at OpenSecrets.
The so-called FIRE sector as a whole -- finance, insurance and real estate -- prefers Republicans by 58% to 42%, after narrowly favoring Democrats two years ago, Mayersohn said.
Will Dunham, president and chief executive of the American Investment Council, emphasizes private equity's embrace of both parties, saying his trade group "is proud to partner on a bipartisan basis with members of Congress focused on driving Main Street investment, job creation and growth in states and districts across the country."
Despite this spirit of bipartisanship, the contrast in how the parties approach private equity has sharpened in the past two years.
The Trump administration has generally been friendly toward the industry, despite briefly threatening its most valuable tax break last year and, more recently, restricting its capacity to invest in residential real estate. Trump is trying to vastly expand private equity's customer base and has called off the Biden administration's antitrust crusade against it, significantly softening regulatory scrutiny.
Many Democrats, by contrast, have ramped up criticism of private equity, on subjects ranging from healthcare buyouts and acquisitions of residential homes, to the industry's alleged role in driving up costs in youth sports and firetruck manufacturing.
If Democrats retake majorities in either the House or Senate, industry critics will likely take over key committee seats. In the Senate, Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), arguably private equity's toughest political opponent, is set to lead the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs if Democrats retake the chamber.
If Democrats flip the House, Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) is positioned to lead its Committee on Financial Services. Waters, who headed the committee during a previous Democratic majority, is a longtime private-equity critic, and in June asked the Labor Department to abandon its plans to let private equity into Americans' 401(k) accounts.
"The industry has received a very strong sense of what lies ahead for them in a Democrat-controlled Congress: direct oversight and investigations into their practices, and a much higher degree of reputational risk, particularly for the leading firms," Maloney said.
In donations to individual candidates, private equity strongly favors incumbents. Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) -- who chairs the appropriations committee -- leads the pack, with over $700,000, followed by Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.).
Employees of Blackstone have spent more than those of any other firm, about $30.1 million, the vast majority going to Republicans and conservative groups.
Other prominent firms whose employees have spent heavily are Apollo Global Management, at about $9.1 million; Bain Capital, at $5.6 million; and KKR, at $4 million. Apollo's and KKR's employees have favored Republican candidates and conservative groups while Bain's have favored Democrats and liberal groups.
Blackstone, Apollo and Bain declined to comment and KKR didn't reply to an inquiry.