Fact check: How European firms indirectly invest millions in US elections

European corporations have indirectly funnelled around $14.3 million (€13.2 million) in funds towards US electoral campaigns during the current voting cycle, Euronews' analysis of data provided by non-profit Open Secrets reveals.

Of those funds, around 56% went towards Republican campaigns, while 44% went to Democrats.

Although foreign companies are technically barred from directly contributing to US electoral campaigns, they can easily bypass those guardrails by using their American subsidiaries to establish political action committees known as PACs.

Those PACs collect money from their American employees, which is then channelled into election campaigns, with spending usually focused on congressional rather than presidential candidates.

PACs have been a staple of US campaign financing for decades. Their direct contributions to campaigns are capped, but they can spend unlimited cash on advertising that supports parties and their nominees.

Euronews' analysis shows that a total of 143 companies headquartered in 13 European countries — of which 10 are EU member states — have invested money in American elections through PACs. 

The biggest contributions during this two-year electoral cycle came from Swiss investment bank UBS, German telecoms company T-Mobile and British defence firm BAE Systems.

According to Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy at Open Secrets, PACs are an essential lobbying tool but are not powerful enough to influence electoral results.

"It's not necessarily that you have foreign interests setting up PACs to influence US policy. It's rather that you have companies that are based in Europe or other countries, that need to get things done in the US," Bryner said.

She explained that many major European corporations rely heavily on US-based clientele and therefore need to influence policy-making. "They have to be involved politically, it's just basic political acumen," she added.

These European-connected PACs typically contribute a fairly equal share of funding towards both Democratic and Republican campaigns.

"It's common for PACs to contribute to both sides because what they need is to get access to politicians," Bryner explained. "Both sides are going to win various seats in different places and will serve on the committees that regulate their companies."

However, the vast majority of Europe-linked PACs contribute marginally more to Republican campaigns, with 55% of the total €13.2 million investments in this electoral cycle going towards Republican candidates.

Only the PACs of Portuguese and Spanish firms contributed more to Democratic campaigns than to Republican ones during the 2023-2024 cycle.

How decisive is foreign funding?

The contributions of European-linked PACs nonetheless fade in comparison to the size of the war chest of candidates running in US elections.

US political campaigns raked in around $8.6 billion (€7.9 billion) for the 2024 House, Senate, and presidential elections between January 2023 and April 2024.

In fact, individual contributions from billionaire donors are becoming more pivotal in pushing the electoral dial.

A controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling in favour of Conservative non-profit Citizens United reversed centuries-old campaign financing rules, allowing outside groups to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns and giving rise to the so-called "super PACs".

These relatively new types of PACs are growing in number and power. While they cannot donate money directly to a political candidate, they have an almost unfettered ability to boost candidates' campaigns through advertising and social media.

The legality of the methods used by these supergroups is often contested. Earlier this week, the Philadelphia district attorney’s office filed a lawsuit against the controversial $1 million (€925,000) daily giveaway offered by Elon Musk's pro-Trump super PAC to registered voters in swing states.