5 charts that show where Texas border agents have been making their political contributions
5 charts that show where Texas border agents have been making their political contributions
With the presidential election coming up, here is a quick breakdown of the political contributions that Texas border agents are making. It’s an eight-months-in-the-making Part II to a similar analysis I did of California.
The following charts are based on FEC data of individual campaign contributions. I filtered it based on donors who listed their home state as Texas and their employer as U.S. Customs and Border Protection or Border Patrol:
1. The number of contributions border agents made each year
Based on the total number of individual contributions, it seems as if Texas border agents just aren’t as fired up for Trump vs. Harris as they were for Trump vs. Biden. If you add up all the contributions that were logged in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, you would still fall a bit short of the 2,600-plus from 2020.
Important side note: Small-dollar donations do not have to be itemized in the campaign finance data that gets reported, so it’s unclear how that might affect this chart.
2. Total dollars donated by Texas border agents each year
On that note, the money donated by Texas border agents in 2020 dwarfs each of the other five years. If you add up 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, you have a little more than $83,000. The $19,000+ in 2024 is barely more than the midterm election year of 2022.
3. The top recipients from 2019 to 2024
About 18% of the donations went to Democrats, based on a breakdown of the top 10 committees that received the most money.
Side note: The National Treasury Employees Union PAC is technically nonpartisan, although Open Secrets shows that their contributions go disproportionally to Democrats — including more than 93% in the 2024 cycle.
4. The top recipients of just 2024
But how have things trended in 2024, with the election drawing closer?
A slight tick upward.
Of all the contributions to the top-receiving committees in 2024, about 20% has gone to Democrats.
5. The top recipients of just 2020
And how does that compare to 2020?
A solid 3.5 percentage points ahead.
Only about 16.6% of the money went blue when Biden defeated Trump.