The investing industry is throwing its weight behind Republican allies ahead of the US midterm elections in an effort to stem a populist wave it fears will bring greater scrutiny of private equity’s reach.

Private equity and money managers doled out more donations to Republicans than Democrats this year for the first time since 2016, with billionaires from Apollo Global Management Inc. and Blackstone Inc. opening their checkbooks. Blackstone’s chief executive and Republican mega-donor Steve Schwarzman has donated more than $33 million to Republican candidates and their allies this cycle.

Overall, donations to Republican candidates, leadership political action committees and party committees from the investing sector were nearly 70% higher than comparable contributions supporting Democrats, according to OpenSecrets data.

That disparity in giving is far wider than has been seen in recent election cycles. But this year the industry has seen a rightward tilt amid concerns that Democrats could regain control of the House of Representatives – and maybe the Senate, too – and turn the spotlight on an industry that progressives have often cast as a bogeyman. The hope is to boost allies that could block regulation and serve as legislative brakes under Democratic control.

While they put dollars behind Republicans, credit executives have also stepped up visits to influential Democrats in recent months, said a person familiar with the matter. That includes meeting with Representative Maxine Waters, the person said, the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee who is likely to take a bigger oversight role if the Democrats control the chamber.

Executives are not only girding for an unfavorable legislative agenda: They worry that the industry is poised for a moment like big bank CEOs faced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, when executives were hauled in front of Congress for grilling. That kind of unwanted attention would be another headache for an industry already struggling with high interest rates, waning investor enthusiasm and underwhelming returns – and could come from a wide range of lawmakers.

“The industry views the populist streak on the right as just as worrying as the energy behind the progressive left,” said James Maloney, managing partner of public affairs firm Tiger Hill Partners and a former spokesman for the industry’s main lobby group.

As some take the view that both parties have strayed too far from the center, wealthy donors have favored moderate establishment Republicans. Schwarzman and his number-two executive Jon Gray, a longtime Democratic donor, are among those who have written checks to back Republican Senator Susan Collins’ reelection bid in Maine.

She has threatened but ultimately supported dealmakers’ ability to pay lower taxes on carried interest, or the slice of profits that private equity managers take on winning bets. Collins is in a tight race with Democrat Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger and former state lawmaker who has championed tougher rules on private equity.

Jackson has pointed fingers at the industry for the rising prices of houses, apartments and mobile homes. “I do think we have to go after private equity, make it so that they can’t buy these things and charge outrageous prices,” he said in an October debate.

Collins and an affiliated political action committee have hit back with an advertising blitz. Pine Tree Results PAC has raised more than $30 million through Oct. 14, according to Federal Election Commission data. Of all the PACs focused on a single candidate, it scored the most money from the private equity and investing industry — nearly $4 million, according to OpenSecrets. Top billionaire donors include Schwarzman and Citadel’s Ken Griffin.

Private equity-backed businesses have come to touch more consumers, entangling the companies in the debate around who’s to blame for the rising cost of living. Healthcare roll-ups, private ownership of single-family housing, childcare services and a growing push into worker 401(k)s all stand to put them in the crosshairs of political candidates. They’re also playing ever bigger roles in powering the data center boom – an issue that has burst into the political foreground.

Progressive groups like Americans for Financial Reform, which has the ear of Democrats, are gearing up for a campaign to show private equity’s outsized role in the data center build-out. Its sister organization recently hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill to tout the risks of an AI-fueled financial crisis.

If the Democrats take the House, any committees that deal with “kitchen table issues,” such as financial services and banking, will be looking into private equity, said Arya Hariharan, a partner in law firm Holland & Knight’s public policy practice who formerly advised Democrats on House and Senate Judiciary Committee investigations.

“If they’re talking about how PE is making things more expensive for regular people, members have to be responsive to that,” she said.

In particular, all eyes are on whether Waters will reclaim the Financial Services Committee gavel.

After individual investors rushed to pull money from retail credit funds late last year, Waters’ office sent letters to the largest credit asset managers, asking firms to explain what they were doing, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Some of the firms never responded and in recent months have started engaging with Waters’ office in an effort to forestall a congressional hearing or inquiry into private credit, the person said. Waters’ office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Another point of focus is the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which Democrats could steer to focus on private equity’s influence over portfolio companies.

Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, has signaled in meetings with lobbyists that the committee is interested in looking into whether private equity-backed businesses squeeze customers and raise prices of critical services, said people familiar with the matter. The committee will also prioritize how firms have used proximity to President Donald Trump for financial gain.

Lobbyists are reminding private capital clients that having moderates in their corner won’t preclude fallout from probes and hearings, which could damage the industry more than legislation that has little prospect of being signed into law.

The American Investment Council, the leading lobby group for the private equity industry, has long courted the public and policymakers on both sides of the aisle. Its message is that the industry is behind some popular consumer products, such as Van Leeuwen ice cream, which it brought to a recent New York State Society of Washington DC event. In September, the AIC attended an event organized by the Congressional Black Caucus and brought Death Wish Coffee and supplements from Promix Nutrition, which are both backed by PE firms.

Private equity has also put money into amplifying its message on data centers, which have become political flashpoints as wide swaths of voters have come to oppose their effect on communities and utility bills. The issue is especially potent in state and local races.

The American Infrastructure Alliance launched in September, with backing from private equity, developers and unions. Funders include Blackstone and its data center developer QTS, as well as OpenAI and CoreWeave. Washington public affairs firm Narrative Strategies is part of the effort, said people familiar with the matter. The organization’s focus is on Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Indiana and South Carolina – states where data centers are proliferating. It’s seeking to stave off moratoriums by making clear to state legislators that the industry is open to guardrails and regulations.

At the center of the debate is Ohio, which has the fifth-highest number of data centers among US states and where a battle for a Senate seat has become a referendum on the sector.

Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown has slammed Republican Senator Jon Husted for embracing data centers. “He delivered giant corporations billions of dollars in sweetheart tax deals,” Brown said at a rally earlier this year. “Ohioans now pay thousands more on their utility bills.”Still, Husted has shown he’s not opposed to regulating data centers. He sponsored the Ratepayer Protection Act, designed to shield regular households from the costs of the AI buildout.

Apollo CEO Marc Rowan and co-president of Apollo Asset Management Scott Kleinman have written checks to Husted.

If Brown – a former senator who lost his seat in 2024 – wins the Ohio contest, it’ll pave the way for the political veteran to try to reclaim the chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee. He has joined with the likes of Senator Elizabeth Warren to call for more regulation on leverage, and to put private equity executives on the hook for the financial obligations of the companies their funds own.