Of the 749 federal political donations that SMU professors have made this election cycle, only one went to a Republican candidate.
A review of Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, filtered for donors who listed their occupation as “professor” and their employer as Southern Methodist University, found that, as of Oct. 27, 748 of the 749 contributions in the 2026 election cycle, or 99.87%, went to Democratic candidates or groups.
Recipients included Senate candidates James Talarico, Jon Ossoff and Mark Kelly, the Democratic National Committee, the ActBlue Political Action Committee, Elect Democratic Women Political Action Committee and the Congressional Progressive Caucus Political Action Committee.
With the midterm elections approaching, the numbers raise a question some students and faculty say they have been quietly asking for years: Does one-sided political support by professors shape what happens in the SMU classroom?
Ben Voth, a director of debate and speech associate professor at SMU has tracked faculty donations at SMU and other Texas universities for several years.
“The one-sided partisan nature of academia is an important part of public frustration with our political ...