Members of UChicago’s Board of Trustees donated overwhelmingly to Republican candidates during the 2024 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records reviewed by the Maroon. This trend marks a notable shift in the donation patterns of the trustees, who had previously donated to Republicans and Democrats at similar levels.

The Maroon reviewed every individual federal political contribution reported to the FEC over almost 40 years by the 50 current members of the Board. Collectively, these trustees have made more than 4,000 political contributions totaling more than $30 million over their lifetimes. This piece focuses not on the Board as an institution but on the current makeup of the Board.

Of that total, $16,936,470 went to Republicans and Republican Party–affiliated political action committees (PACs), while $10,994,345 went to Democrats and Democratic Party–affiliated PACs. Just $23,533 went to independent candidates, and the remaining $2,046,371 went to unaffiliated, mostly corporate PACs.

Of the more than $30 million contributed by UChicago trustees, $15,345,653 went to congressional candidates and $6,780,648 went to presidential candidates. An additional $4,608,396 went to non-candidate-specific PACs, $2,231,047 went to national political parties, and $1,034,975 went to state parties.

The difference in contributions to Republicans and Democrats is due to a significant spike in donations to Republican candidates during the 2023–24 election cycle. During that period, more than $8 million went to Republican candidates, compared to less than $2 million to Democrats. This marks only the second recent presidential election cycle when UChicago’s current trustees gave more to Republicans than Democrats, the other being 2011–12.

The Board’s recent rightward skew in donation habits is due in part to the donations of five individuals: Antonio Gracias, John Liew, Byron Trott, Greg Wendt, and Donald Wilson Jr. But those individuals are not solely responsible. Fourteen trustees gave to Republican candidates and organizations during the 2023–24 election cycle, and 12 of them contributed more to Republicans than to Democrats.

Still, while the Board’s donation pattern as a whole leans to the right, individual trustees tend to be more liberal. Over their lifetimes, 26 trustees have donated more to Democrats than Republicans, while only 17 trustees have donated more to Republicans. Seven trustees have not donated to Democrats or Republicans.

Methodology

The FEC requires all political campaigns and PACs to report the name, occupation, and employer of donors who contribute at least $200 in a calendar year. The Democratic and Republican Parties’ online fundraising platforms, ActBlue and WinRed, are “conduits” and must report all contributions, regardless of size.

The Maroon verified trustees’ identities by cross-referencing zip codes, employers, and other identifying information present in FEC records. This analysis only includes donations that the Maroon could fully verify were made by a University trustee.

The Maroon did not review political donations made by foundations or other organizations managed by University trustees or the contributions of honorary and emeritus University trustees.

Individual donations were not adjusted for inflation. Though adjusting for inflation would flatten the all-time curve of contributions, it would not have other meaningful effects on the data given the massive increase in size of recent donations.

PAC affiliations were determined based on reports on PAC spending by the nonprofit Open Secrets. For recipients whose party affiliation changed while in office, identification was based on the recipient’s affiliation at the time the donation was made. All political figures have been recorded according to their official party, regardless of voting tendencies. For example, Senator Angus King (I-Maine), has been recorded as an independent, though he caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.

The Makeup of Red and Blue Contributions

The 480 percent increase in contributions to Republicans in the 2023–24 election cycle mostly went to congressional candidates. However, one trustee—Gracias—gave $1 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump PAC created by Elon Musk.

Gracias is one of only two trustees who have given money to Trump or to explicitly Trump-aligned PACs. The other is Wendt, who donated to the Trump leadership committee Save America PAC in 2020.

No UChicago trustees have contributed directly to the Republican National Committee since Trump first ran for president in 2016, though three—University President Paul Alivisatos, Debra Cafaro, and Ashley Joyce—have since donated small amounts to the RNC through WinRed.

By contrast, 12 UChicago trustees gave to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and explicitly Harris-aligned PACs in the 2023–24 cycle. During the 2019–20 cycle, 13 trustees gave to Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Biden-aligned PACs. In the 2015–16 cycle, 16 trustees gave to Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton and Clinton-aligned PACs.

Since 2016, 15 trustees have given directly to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or ActBlue.

The top Democratic recipients of UChicago trustees’ dollars have mostly been presidential candidates: Biden, Clinton, Harris, and Barack Obama sit at second, third, fifth, and sixth for most contributions.

Among Democratic candidates and organizations, the DNC has received the most donations from trustees, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)—the Democratic congressional campaign fundraising organizations—are fourth and seventh respectively.

Many high-profile Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.); former Speaker of the House and current Representative Nancy Pelosi (Calif.); and Senators Cory Booker (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), and Mark Warner (Va.), are also in the top 20.

On the Republican side, the top recipients are a mix of candidates and organizations. Nikki Haley, who ran against Trump in 2024, sits at second. Trump, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and 2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush are all in the top 15 recipients.

The top Republican candidate or organization recipient, however, is Senator Dave McCormick (Pa.), the Trump-endorsed Pennsylvania senator first elected to office in 2025, who received more than $2 million combined from six trustees. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)—the Republican congressional campaign fundraising organizations—are third and seventh, respectively. Americans for Prosperity, the conservative libertarian Koch brothers’ PAC, takes fourth place.

Other high-profile Republicans, including former Speakers of the House Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), and John Boehner (Ohio); former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan; and Senators Tim Scott (S.C.), Pete Ricketts (Neb.), and John McCain (formerly Ariz.), are also in the top 20.

Pete Ricketts is the brother of Thomas Ricketts, who owns the Chicago Cubs and joined the Board of Trustees in 2024. Thomas Ricketts contributed more than $300,000 to his brother’s 2024 Senate campaign.

Trustees’ Contributions and Ideological Lean

The Maroon found no clear indication that trustees were more or less likely to give to pro-Trump Republicans versus anti-Trump Republicans. Haley and Scott initially ran against Trump in 2024, but strongly endorsed him after dropping out of the race. Pete Ricketts has been a Trump supporter since the latter first ran for president, and McCarthy expressed his support for Trump against Haley and others in 2024.

Hogan, however, did not vote for Trump in 2024, and McCain and Trump sparred frequently before the former’s death in 2018. Romney was the only Senate Republican who voted to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials.

More broadly, the Maroon found no statistically significant relationship between the size of trustees’ political contributions to members of Congress and those members’ ideologies.

The Maroon determined senators’ and representatives’ ideologies using DW Nominate, the most commonly used political science measure of representatives’ ideological lean, and the League of Conservation Voters’ (LCV) national environmental scorecard, which serves as a proxy for how progressive congresspeople are. Neither measure demonstrated strong correlation between increased liberalism or conservatism and the donations congresspeople received from UChicago’s trustees.

That is, UChicago trustees were just as likely to give large sums to liberal Democrats as to conservative Democrats and to liberal Republicans as to conservative Republicans.

Support for Illinoisans

UChicago’s trustees have a strong record of supporting Illinoisans across the aisle, having given large sums to Democrats including Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, and Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.-08), Sean Casten (Ill.-06), Lauren Underwood (Ill.-04), and Robin Kelly (Ill.-02), as well as to Republicans including former Senator Mark Kirk and Representative Adam Kinzinger (formerly Ill.-16) and current Representatives Darin LaHood (Ill.-16) and Bob Dold (Ill.-10).

Nine UChicago trustees have also given to Democrat Rahm Emanuel, who served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019, and is likely to run for president in 2028.

In 2014, current UChicago trustee Byron Trott “sent an email to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s personal account in which he promised to co-host a political fundraiser, before making a series of requests that included asking that the mayor provide high-level access to a new executive at Trott’s firm,” per the Chicago Tribune. Trott has served on the Board since 2003.

Trott could not be reached for comment regarding his correspondence with Emanuel. No other trustees mentioned by name in this article could be reached for comment regarding their political contributions.

Asked about policies for trustees’ political activity, a University spokesperson referred the Maroon to UChicago’s governing documents and the University’s conflict of interest policy for trustees and officers.

“Members of the UChicago community are free to donate to or otherwise engage in causes that interest them, in their individual capacities,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Maroon.

Protests Against the Board

In recent years, UChicago’s Board of Trustees has been a frequent target of protest by UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) and their constituent groups for perceived ties to Israel, Trump, fossil fuel companies, and military contractors.

In April 2025, Students for Justice in Palestine erected a tent on the quad that for two weeks displayed the bloody faces of Alivisatos, Gracias, Rachel Kohler, Michele Kang, and other trustees.

“Our Board of Trustees tent exhibition has exposed only a fraction of trustee investments in Israel, the military industrial complex, fossil fuels, and surveillance technology,” an SJP instagram post accompanying the exhibit read.

Since 2023, the Environmental Justice Task Force has periodically distributed flyers around campus that read “#FUCK THE BOARD.” Each flyer has a photo of a trustee and a description of their employment.

Half of UChicago’s current trustees work in investment banking or private equity. Most others work in business, medicine, or technology. Alivisatos is the only academic currently serving on the board. Gracias, who is employed at the private investment firm Valor Equity, recently joined Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), from which position he is targeting social security and illegal immigration.

Gracias is not the only trustee to have served in government. From 2009–17, Valerie Jarrett served as a senior advisor to then President Obama. From 2002–07, Daniel Doctoroff served as deputy mayor of New York City for economic development and rebuilding. From 2002–06, Andrew Alper served as president of the public trust New York City Economic Development Corporation. From 1977–81, David Rubenstein served as a deputy assistant to former President Jimmy Carter for domestic policy.

Trump Targets UChicago

UChicago is one of many universities to have come under scrutiny by the Trump administration in recent months for perceived liberal bias. In April, the Department of Health and Human Services terminated nearly $6 million in University research grants and the State Department briefly suspended the visas of ten UChicago international students and recent graduates.

The University is also one of 45 schools currently under investigation by the Department of Education for engaging in “race-exclusionary practices in [its] graduate programs.”

By contrast to the University’s trustees, UChicago faculty members donate overwhelmingly to Democratic candidates. Between 2015 and 2023, almost 97 percent of political contributions by University faculty went to Democratic candidates and PACs.

The University of Chicago, alongside most American institutions of higher education, is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization and cannot institutionally contribute to political candidates. Such neutrality is consistent with the 1967 Kalven Report, which determined that the University’s neutrality on social and political issues afforded “the fullest freedom for its faculty and students as individuals to participate in political action.”

But neither the University’s Conflict of Interest Policy for University Trustees and Officers, nor its Bylaws and Statutes, discuss trustees’ involvement in politics or government.

The Maroon found no statistically significant change in donation patterns—in either quantity donated or political lean—between the five years before and the five years after each given trustee joined the Board. This suggests that trustees did not change their donating pattern after joining the Board.

Trustees’s Political Contributions in Context

Nine trustees have given at least $1 million in their lifetimes. 27 trustees have given at least $100,000.

The top contributors are Wendt, Gracias, and Donald Wilson, Jr. with more than $6 million, $5 million, and $3 million contributed, respectively.

90 percent of current trustees have made at least one political contribution in their lifetime, while, nationwide, around one percent of Americans donate in each election cycle. Most donate less than $100. Since 1985, the average trustee has donated around $30,000 per election cycle.

Nevertheless, UChicago trustees’ contributions remain a drop in the bucket nationally. In the 2023–24 election cycle alone, presidential and congressional campaigns collectively raised almost $6 billion.

And trustees’ political donations pale in comparison to their philanthropic and academic giving. Combined, they have given more than a billion dollars to the University, medical research, and the arts.

Mazie Witter contributed reporting.