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2014 political giving by higher-ed employees 91 percent for Dems

After the 2008 presidential election, and prompted by claims by a conservative state lawmaker that college professors are overwhelmingly liberal, Cronkite News reviewed political giving by employees at Arizona’s higher education institutions.

The result: About 85 percent went to Democrats running for president and Congress. That ran counter to overall giving by Arizonans, which was about 2-1 for Republicans.

We decided to take another look based on political giving in 2014, when congressional districts representing the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University had competitive races.

The result: 91 percent of the $107,439 given to campaigns by instructors and staff at public universities and community colleges went to Democrats, as represented here:

Political contributions by higher-ed employees  | Create infographics

Explore political giving by employees of these institutions below. Lists of donors by institution allow you to review how much individuals contributed and to whom.

Individuals contacted weren’t willing to comment on their contributions, as were representatives of two of the three public universities.


University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is in the 2nd Congressional District, where Republican Martha McSally narrowly defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Ron Barber. Giving by UA employees: $37,327 to Barber and $4,426 to McSally. They contributed $54,812 across all Arizona congressional campaigns, with most of the rest going toward Democratic U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in her re-election campaign against Republican Andy Tobin.

University of Arizona | Create infographics

University comment: Representatives in the university’s Office of Media Relations didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Explore individual contributions from UA employees:


Arizona State University

Faculty and staff at Arizona State University, which has its largest campus in Tempe in the ninth district, gave $27,918 to incumbent Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, versus $250 to Republican Andrew Walter, who did not win the Republican nomination. In all, ASU faculty and staff gave $44,092 to congressional candidates, with by far the most money going to Democrats.

Arizona State University  | Create infographics

University comment: Representatives in the university’s Office of Media Relations didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Explore individual contributions from ASU employees:


Northern Arizona University

Twelve members of Northern Arizona University’s faculty and staff gave a total of $3,310 to congressional campaigns. All but $250 went to U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff.

Northern Arizona University  | Create infographics

University comment: Thomas Bauer, director of NAU’s Office of Public Affairs, said 12 political contributions is too small a number to allow generalizations about political leanings among faculty and staff. “Of course we don’t interfere or even discuss individuals’ private donations: faculty, staff or students,” he said.

Explore individual contributions from NAU employees:


Community colleges

Employees of community colleges gave $5,225 to congressional campaigns, of which $750 went to Republicans. The largest share, $2,035, went to Democrat Ron Barber.

Explore individual contributions from community college employees:

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