As election day approaches, an early review of campaign finance filings sheds light on tens of millions of dollars that the real estate industry has poured into races for the House and Senate this election cycle.
For this analysis, Inman examined Federal Election Commission political contributions for the industry’s largest trade groups, corporations and individual donors who said they were real estate agents or otherwise connected to the real estate industry.
These records only reflect political donations through a specific period in time where reports are available — through June 30 for individual donors, and through September or mid-October for most political action committees. More recent donations have yet to be reported in full.
Among industry PACs, the donations Inman reviewed primarily benefited incumbents — including a particularly strong push in support of Sen. John Cornyn’s failed bid to secure the Republican nomination against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
But among individual donors who gave more than $200 and identified themselves as real estate agents or brokers, a greater share of support went to Democratic-aligned candidates and groups.
Examine these findings in detail using the tool below.
In terms of direct campaign contributions, the National Association of Realtors’ RPAC split its contributions roughly down the middle, favoring candidates — primarily incumbents — from both parties.
But as the analysis shows, support for candidates distributed through NAR’s super PAC was significantly more likely to go to Republican causes.
The share of all NAR-affiliated PAC contributions that went to GOP candidates or GOP-leaning organizations was 62 percent, compared to less than 46 percent of donations by individual contributors who identified as real estate agents or brokers, Inman‘s analysis suggests.
Some of this can be explained by the tendency of real estate PACs to support incumbents over challengers.
- More than 9 in 10 dollars worth of contributions by real estate PACs in recent midterm elections benefited incumbent candidates, compared to roughly 6 in 10 by individual real estate agent donors who gave to a specific partisan candidate or cause.
Part of the difference is also explained by NAR’s affiliated PACs targeting more competitive races than the typical individual real estate agent donor.
But not all, Inman’s analysis shows.
- Had individual agent donors backed candidates to the extent that NAR did in the same races, they’d have contributed 56 percent of their political support for Republican candidates and causes — 10 percentage points higher than their actual level of support.
- That roughly matches the dynamic in the 2018 midterms, when real estate agents gave to Democrats at a percentage 15 points higher than NAR-affiliated contributions in the same races during the first congressional elections after Trump’s first inauguration.
- It’s also the mirror image of the dynamic in 2010, when individual agents supported Republicans at a share 13 points higher than NAR-affiliated groups in the same races.
The clear picture is that the PACs of real estate groups and corporations are likelier to support the incumbent party than their members and agents. See how this has played out so far in your House and Senate races in the tool above.
