For every $10 Emory University faculty and staff donated to Republican-backed political organizations during the 2024 campaign, they gave over $530 to Democrats.
Since the beginning of 2023, Emory employees have donated $1.65 million to political entities through 17,547 individual contributions. The predominantly left-leaning faculty and staff donors gave $1.56 million to Democratic candidates, $60,165.04 to non-affiliated and third-party political action committees (PACs) and $29,386.75 to Republican candidates. Faculty and staff also donated 13,129 times to Democratic PAC ActBlue, amounting to $316,445.80, and made 263 contributions totaling $8,651.85 to WinRed, a Republican Party-endorsed PAC.
Since Biden’s July 21 announcement that he would not seek presidential re-election, Emory faculty and staff made 882 separate contributions to presidential campaigns, totaling $124,410.87. 865 of those donations, totaling $122,220.13, went to the Harris for President campaign. Since the start of 2023, there have been 1,220 donations to presidential candidates totaling $173,637.58. Of those, 1,140 separate contributions amounting to $162,163.68 were for Harris/Biden for President.
Overall, 93.4% of the money donated to presidential campaigns in the last 22 months by Emory faculty and staff has been for the Democratic ticket.
Matthew Bernstein, Goodrich C. White professor and interim chair of film and media, is a regular donor to political organizations. Through 611 contributions, Bernstein has donated over $3 million to various PACs and candidates during his time at Emory. All of his donations are in support of Democratic candidates.
When asked why he donated to the Harris campaign this election cycle, Bernstein commented that he has been a lifelong Democrat and agrees with Harris’ platform.
“My values align with the Democratic Party, so it’s natural for me to support them however I can,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein also mentioned that he believes in the importance of elections and that donations are one way to show support for a candidate or political party.
“Elections have consequences, as we have seen,” Bernstein said.
During 2023 and 2024, there were also seven individual faculty donations to the Jill Stein for President 2024 campaign. Two of these donations came from Dr. Marwan Kazimi, assistant professor of surgery at the Emory University School of Medicine and surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program at the Emory Transplant Center.
Kazimi said that he has mostly voted for Democrats throughout his life, but the war in Gaza steered him away from the party. He said there was “almost a sense of dread” having to vote for former U.S. President Donald Trump or Harris based on their stances regarding the conflict in the Middle East.
“Jill Stein was the only candidate who really had some degree of national exposure and also was willing to go out and courageously argue against the disruption and support the belief that Palestinians are a people and a country that should have some degree of self-determination,” Kazimi said.
Kazimi said his goal in donating to Stein was not necessarily to propel her to a victory but rather to underscore the importance of having more than two candidates to choose from in national elections.
“It’s important that those who have important ideas are not muted, are allowed platforms, and some of that requires monetary support,” Kazimi said.
Kazimi also mentioned a personal connection to Stein, as he worked with her husband Dr. Richard Rohrer for five years during his residency and met Stein herself.
Raymond Schinazi, professor of the department of pediatrics at the medical school, was one of two faculty and staff members to contribute to Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign during this election cycle. In an email to The Emory Wheel, Schinazi wrote that a personal friendship with Ramaswamy led him to support the former Republican Party presidential candidate.
Other donations from Emory faculty and staff in 2023 and 2024 include five donations to Cornel West’s campaign, 53 donations to Trump’s campaign, one donation to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign, 10 donations to Nikki Haley’s campaign, one donation to Rep. Dean Phillips’ campaign (D-Minn.) and one donation to Cenk Uygur’s campaign.
Non-Harris contributions make up only 6.5% of the total monetary donations for the past 22 months. Faculty and staff who donated to Trump’s campaign declined requests to comment.
Niko Sample-Kietrys (25Ox) contributed to reporting.
