Lyft Gives Almost Exclusively to Democrats

Lyft plans to make its public market debut on Friday. That could be good news for Democrats.

Lyft employees give almost exclusively to Democratic candidates, according to public records. And many of them will see their stakes in the company worth far more than previously estimated if the company shares sell at the valuation expected.

In the recent midterms, Lyft employees gave $60,150 to Democratic candidates and just $2,135 to Republicans, according to data from Open Secrets. The biggest beneficiary of Lyft political contributions was Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Representative Max Rose, the newly elected Congressman from New York’s 11th congressional district, which includes all of New York City’s borough of Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, received $5,400, making him the second largest beneficiary.

Lyft’s political slant is not recent. In the 2016 election, Lyft employees gave a total of around $90,000 to political candidates–91 percent of which went to Democrats.

This kind of imbalanced giving is unusual in a public company, indicating that Lyft is drawing its employees from a narrow swathe of America. Drivers for Lyft are not considered employees in most areas. It is not so unusual in Silicon Valley, where Democrats are heavily favored by tech elites.