In 2018, public-sector unions contributed $159.8 million to candidates for federal, state, or local office, according to resources available through campaign finance reporting requirements at both the federal and state levels.
The five states in which political candidates received the most money in contributions from public-sector unions were:
- California, where unions contributed $74.1 million, 46.4 percent of the nationwide total.
- Illinois, where unions contributed $14.2 million, 8.9 percent of the nationwide total.
- Oregon, where unions contributed $10.6 million, 6.6 percent of the nationwide total.
- Minnesota, where unions contributed $10.4 million, 6.5 percent of the nationwide total.
- New York, where unions contributed $9.8, 6.1 percent of the nationwide total.
Combined contributions in these five states totaled $119.0 million, about 75 percent of the nationwide total. Meanwhile, contributions in the remaining 45 states totaled $40.7 million—about 25 percent of the nationwide total.
These totals are based on resources gathered by the National Institute on Money in Politics, and reflect contributions by public-sector unions to political candidates. These figures do not account for unions’ satellite spending activities.