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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

Does the oil and gas industry contribute much more to the GOP than to Democrats?

By Christopher Hutton
YES

The oil and gas industry has channeled two-thirds of its political contributions to Republicans since 1990, and that pattern has continued in the 2020 election. Federal data compiled by Open Secrets, an independent research group, shows that Donald Trump's campaign had received $1.6 million as of Sept. 21 from industry-related sources, compared with $623,000 given to Joe Biden's. (Both campaigns have raised about $500 billion so far in total.)

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican running for reelection, is the second-largest recipient of support from the industry behind Trump. Only other Democrat, also from Texas, is among its top 20 recipients.

The industry has donated $87 million so far this year, 85% to Republicans.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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