Now showing summary data for the 2024 election cycle.

Although the defense sector contributes far less money to politicians than many other sectors, it is one of the most powerful in politics. The sector includes defense aerospace, defense electronics and other miscellaneous defense companies.

Individuals and political action committees associated with the defense sector contributed $50 million to political candidates and committees during the 2020 campaign cycle, with far more going to Republicans than Democrats: $21.7 million versus $25.4 million. [Read more Background]

The Defense sector includes the following categories and industries:

Or select another sector from an alphabetical list.

Top Contributors, 2023-2024

Contributor Total To Dems To Repubs To liberal groups To conservative groups To nonpartisan groups Lean
Lockheed Martin $1,917,820 $884,979 $1,007,147 $52,585 $485 $790 Leans Republican
Northrop Grumman $1,253,089 $660,990 $573,905 $31,210 $878 $100 Leans Democrat
General Atomics $1,229,004 $279,617 $864,690 $445 $83,400 $510 Leans Republican
L3Harris Technologies $1,200,065 $445,060 $751,054 $1,300 $25 $0 Leans Republican
RTX Corp $1,079,739 $490,669 $564,179 $7,691 $2,065 $0 Leans Republican
General Dynamics $1,001,723 $440,787 $533,586 $1,950 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Anduril Industries $743,159 $88,168 $653,381 $0 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Leidos Inc $630,666 $306,289 $316,379 $2,771 $0 $500 Leans Republican
BAE Systems $582,995 $246,919 $325,267 $597 $0 $250 Leans Republican
Huntington Ingalls Industries $426,071 $227,389 $194,857 $0 $0 $0 Leans Democrat
Sierra Nevada Corp $352,215 $145,046 $204,639 $0 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Booz Allen Hamilton $319,342 $161,887 $147,728 $2,420 $500 $100 Leans Democrat
Bollinger Shipyards $313,747 $6,600 $307,147 $0 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Intelligenesis Inc $267,737 $67,237 $0 $200,500 $0 $0 Leans Liberal
Radiance Technologies $250,277 $9,810 $240,467 $0 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Second Front Systems $224,900 $68,600 $6,300 $150,000 $0 $0 Leans Liberal
Honeywell International $224,500 $120,500 $101,500 $0 $0 $0 Leans Democrat
Colsa Corp $212,445 $1,182 $211,213 $0 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Parsons Corp $201,950 $72,022 $129,328 $150 $0 $0 Leans Republican
Thompson Gray Inc $192,558 $0 $42,558 $0 $150,000 $0 Leans Conservative
Leans Democrat Leans Republican Leans Liberal Leans Conservative On the fence

Contribution Trends, 1990-2024

Annual Lobbying Totals, 1998-2024

Lobbying by Top Defense Industries, 2023

Industry Total
Misc Defense $65,198,018
Defense Aerospace $56,703,671
Defense Electronics $14,944,000

Party Split of Recipients, by Election Cycle, 1990-2024

Top Recipients, 2023-2024

Candidate Chamber Amount
Calvert, Ken (R-CA) House $508,470
Rogers, Mike D (R-AL) House $398,700
Wicker, Roger (R-MS) Senate $309,493
Wittman, Rob (R-VA) House $274,500
Trump, Donald (R) President $255,954

Average Contributions to Members of Congress, 1990-2024

These charts display average contributions to all Members of Congress, including the campaign committees of sitting members who run for president. The surge in giving seen during the 2008 cycle for the Senate reflects contributions given to the presidential campaign committees of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

All the numbers on this page are for the 2024 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released on March 06, 2024.

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