Skift Take
The various sectors of the U.S. travel industry favor former Vice President Joe Biden and shifted support from Republican to Democratic congressional candidates since 2016.
The travel sector isn’t one to shy away from politics, and the 2020 presidential and down ballot races are no different.
Some things never change: Casino executives like Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson and ex-Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn continue to donate millions to Republican candidates like U.S. President Donald Trump. The Pritzker family, which largely controls Hyatt and includes the current Illinois governor as a member, still reliably donates to Democratic candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden.
The airline, cruise, and hotel sectors generally favor the Democratic challenger to Trump in 2020 as they did four years ago with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But there is also notable travel industrywide list momentum away from favoring the Republican Party in congressional races four years ago to Democrats in 2020, according to industry donor data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
“The first factor you can’t ignore is Democrats overall are fundraising much, much more than Republicans this cycle, so we’d expect an increase in the Democratic haul from any industry,” said Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy at the Center for Responsive Politics. “In addition, there is obviously the one-two punch of the pandemic and the recession, which has obviously hit the travel industry very, very hard. One may extrapolate the donor behavior of those in this industry as a condemnation of how the president is handling those two issues. That reflects poorly on Republicans and fundraising.”
Airlines
The airline industry has the narrowest margin in political donations between the two presidential candidates this year, with individuals working at various U.S. airlines and political action committees donating $1.33 million to Biden and $1.31 million to Trump. There was a wider gap but fewer dollars in 2016, with $640,000
