Lots of interesting and perhaps surprising information at the OpenSecrets.org site on the occupation of the “groups” that gave the largest contributions in the 2018 congressional election cycle. A couple points that stood out to me:
Those who list their occupation as “retired” gave the single largest amount of any occupational “group” in the aggregate. Second, the groups that split their contributions most evenly between the parties were the real-estate sector and the pharmaceutical industry.
Note that these are only direct contributions to campaigns. This does not reflect independent spending. I assume, also, that this reflects only contributions over $200, where the FEC requires disclosure of the occupation of the donor. Lastly, Open Secrets states that these figures reflect only contributions to incumbents, by which I take it they mean those running as incumbents in 2018 (even if they were running for a different seat, as in the case of O’Rourke).
| Rank | Interest Group | Total | Dem Pct | GOP Pct | Top Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Retired | $114,024,131 | 61% | 38% | Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) |
| 2 | Lawyers/Law Firms | $85,336,840 | 77% | 23% | Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) |
| 3 | Securities/Invest | $67,244,785 | 54% | 46% | Claire McCaskill (D-Mo) |
| 4 | Real Estate | $59,169,334 | 51% | 48% | Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) |
| 5 | Health Professionals | $49,220,155 | 54% | 45% | Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) |
| 6 | Leadership PACs | $43,891,969 | 33% | 67% | Bill Nelson (D-Fla) |
| 7 | Insurance | $38,265,371 | 41% | 59% | Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) |
| 8 | Education | $32,949,002 | 88% | 11% | Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) |
| 9 | Lobbyists | $26,836,275 | 46% | 54% | Jon Tester (D-Mont) |
| 10 | Pharm/Health Prod | $23,946,449 | 47% | 52% | Bob Casey (D-Pa) |