Federal employees donate $4.2M in presidential race, mostly to Harris

Federal employees donated at least $4.2 million to the major candidates for presidents in 2024, with nearly 84% of that total going to Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Since she entered the race, Harris has raised about $3.5 million from federal workers at cabinet-level agencies, while since 2023 Trump has raised about $675,000, according to data from the Federal Election Commission compiled by Government Executive. That marks a bit of a jump for the Democratic candidate compared to 2020, when Trump gathered nearly 40% of federal employee donations. 

More than 61% of Trump’s donations came from the departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Another 8% came from the Transportation Department. By contrast, just more than one-third of Harris’ federal workforce donations stemmed from DHS and Defense employees. Some unions representing DHS workers, most notably the National Border Patrol Council, have endorsed Trump and its leaders have frequently campaigned with him. 

The Education Department had the most one-sided donation breakdown: employees there gave more than $25,000 to Harris and did not make a single donation to Trump, according to FEC records. That was followed by the Environmental Protection Agency, with 99% of donations going to the vice president, the Energy Department at 97%, the Commerce Department at 96% and the State Department at 94%. 

The chart below shows donations in order from most Trump-leaning to least. 

Those donation totals may be explained, at least in part, by the former president’s policies related to those agencies. Trump has repeatedly vowed to eliminate Education if he is elected. He maintained an adversarial relationship with EPA, proposing in each of his annual budgets to decimate the agency’s spending and meddling in its scientific work. Trump instituted a longstanding hiring freeze at State and referred to it as “the Deep State” Department. Trump has also vowed to do away with a merit-based civil service for much of the federal workforce. 

The Treasury Department was the only major agency outside of DHS, Defense and Transportation that saw at least one-quarter of donations go toward Trump. 

The donations may not be an accurate reflection of how the federal workforce is going to vote, however. A Government Executive survey just before the 2020 election found 60% of federal employees favored Biden, compared to 32% for Trump. No such polling is available for 2024. 

Under the Hatch Act, federal employees are prohibited from engaging in political activity, including making or soliciting donations, while on the clock or acting in their official capacities. In any other context, however, they are free to engage in the political process.