11 of the Top 15 Political Donor Organizations Give Overwhelmingly to Democrats

When it comes to major political donors, an analysis by OpenSecrets.org found that 11 of the top 15 donor groups give overwhelmingly to Democrats.

Democrats have made clear that they intend to make attacking the Koch brothers one of their top strategies in 2014. As Dave Weigel pointed out today this is about fundraising. Democratic voters are more eager to send money when the Koch brothers are trotted out as a boogeyman.

But at least when it comes to money that can be tracked, the biggest donors are overwhelmingly on the side of Democrats. The following list of “heavy hitters” was published by OpenSecrets.org. It covers donations from 1989-2014:

Only 10 of the 15 have blue donkey symbols but the NEA, the #3 giver on the list, donates 56 percent of its money to Democrats and only 4 percent to Republicans. Of the remaining four groups, AT&T gives more to Republicans while Goldman Sachs, gives more to Democrats. The remaining two donors give roughly equal amounts to both parties with a slight edge to Republicans.

Open Secrets does note that this list does not include “politically active dark money groups, like Americansfor Prosperity, a group linked to theKoch brothers, or the liberal group Patriot Majority” because they do not reveal their donor lists. Money spent by these groups has been significant since 2008. Note that the top three groups in this list favor Republicans. As Open Secrets noted last year, the balance anonymous money may shift in 2014.