How Many Democrats Recieved Campaign Money From The Nra

by Edwin Bender | 2019-08-07

In the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, the National Rifle Association praised President Trump's statement to the nation, while other organizations and news outlets expressed their outrage at what they saw as a weak response to a national tragedy.

Once again, calls for gun-control legislation rose at the state and federal levels. Many focused on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has not advanced two measures passed by the House months ago.

Others point to the NRA as the roadblock historically, but note its internal struggles and declining campaign donation trends and question whether it can play the role of gatekeeper at the nation's Capitol.

At the state level, where its grassroots efforts are strong, the NRA has contributed $17.9 million since 2000, to state races, party committees, and ballot-measure campaigns. Its giving peaked in 2016 at $8.3 million, including $6.6 million in a ballot-measure campaign in Nevada in 2016 to defeat a background check requirement. Candidates and party committees received nearly $1.8 million in 2016, a slight increase from 2014 elections when the NRA gave $1.6 million to candidates and party committees and another $525,090 to two ballot measures: Washington's Initiative 594 to require background checks on gun purchases ($485,382 from the NRA), and Maine's Question 001 to ban hunting with bait or dogs ($42,608 from the NRA).

Historically, the NRA's political spending favors Republicans – $4.5 million to $1.1 million – and incumbents: $3.9 million.

When the NRA's internal governance issues began in 2018, its contributions to candidates and party committees dropped dramatically to $736,760, less than half its peak levels. The 2018 donations included $200,000 for a failed effort to stop expanded firearms restrictions in Washington, small donations to party committees in nine states, $198,620 to incumbent candidates and $260,720 to Republican candidates ($7,250 to Democrats).

Through the years, NRA's contributions to state campaigns ebbed and flowed with the national debate around gun control, spiraling up to the $8.3 million high in 2016. Whether the drop to $736,760 in 2018 is a harbinger of things to come for the NRA as it confronts its internal crises and the national cry for regulation in the wake of still more mass killings, remains to be seen.

Be sure to check out the Institute's other NRA-related reports here, three of which discuss how the NRA's contributions are going down, but independent spending is going up.

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