Medtech company employees and their families have donated $289,533 to former Vice President Joe Biden, versus $190,570 for President Donald Trump, according to OpenSecrets.org. Check out our breakdown covering 25 of the largest companies.
[Image courtesy of Biden for President]
Medical device company employees’ preference in the U.S. presidential election appears to be clear: They’re providing more money to the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, according to campaign contribution data compiled by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics’ Opensecrets.org.
The difference is even starker when adding donations to other Democrats who failed to secure the nomination.
As of June 30, employees and their families at 25 major medtech companies had donated nearly $1.1 million. Biden received 26.6%, Bernie Sanders received 21.6%, Trump received 17.5%, Elizabeth Warren received 11%, Pete Buttigieg received 9.6%, Amy Klobuchar received 8.6% and Andrew Yang received 4.8%. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard and Beto O’Rourke received too few donations to be included in the analysis.
Biden beat Trump among employee donations at 19 of the 25 companies.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Biden has campaigned on shifting production of medical equipment and other products back to the U.S. to create jobs and bolster the domestic supply chain. Biden on his campaign website said he wants to reinforce stockpiles of a range of critical products on which the U.S. is dangerously dependent on foreign suppliers. He also said he plans to build toward “flexible American-sourced and manufactured capability to ensure we are not vulnerable to supply chain disruptions in times of crisis.”
President Trump, on the other hand, announced in early August that he would ensure essential medical supplies are produced in the U.S., according to a White House press release. During his term, Trump approved legislation permanently repealing the medical device tax, which was enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Biden also could have an advantage among medical device company employees because the U.S. medical device industry is based in more progressive states, including California, Massachusetts and Minnesota. All three states had a U.S. senator seeking the Democratic nomination this year.
Read on to find out how much employees at 25 of the largest medical device companies in the world donated to presidential candidates as of June 30.