Employees at Stony Brook University (SBU) contributed about $60,627 to a variety of political causes and campaigns from Jan. 1, 2021, to Oct. 26, 2021, with almost 90% of it going to left-leaning groups, according to an analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent federal regulatory organization whose job is to enforce campaign finance laws in federal elections in the United States. Because SBU personnel, including those who work in its hospital, are classified as state employees, any donations they make are publicly available on the FEC’s website.

There were 1,035 particular contributions made from the beginning of 2021 until Oct. 26, less than a week before Election Day. The Statesman looked at each individually and assigned it to a political leaning based on which campaigns each group supports, resulting in a label of either “left-leaning,” “right-leaning” or “unaffiliated.”

From these contributions, which ranged from $0.50 to almost $3,000, 966 of those left-leaning were made for $55,851.36, 57 right-leaning for $3,480 and 10 unaffiliated for $1,296.

Despite having the smallest number of individual payments, unaffiliated contributions had the highest average per instance of $129.60, followed by right-leaning at $61.05 and then left-leaning at $57.82.

Kara Hahn for Congress, a group for the Democratic candidate running for Congress in New York’s 1st Congressional District, raised the most money of any group with $23,050. This was one of four left-leaning groups that out-raised both the right-leaning and unaffiliated labels entirely. Hahn, the Suffolk County Legislator for the 5th District, recently declared victory in her reelection campaign against Republican Salvatore SB Isabella.

WinRed, a Republican fundraising platform supported by the Republican National Committee, raised the most money among right-leaning organizations, raising $1,470, while the American Society of Anesthesiologists Political Action Committee raised the most money of any unaffiliated group with $500.