Bills that hurt pharma decrease funding for Dems and increase it for Republicans.
Eric Neugeboren ’24 [March 7, 2024; Eric is a Politics and Data Reporter based in Las Vegas. He joined The Indy in June 2023 as an intern after graduating from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Journalism and Government & Politics. “Big pharma, big bucks: Analyzing how (and why) the industry donates to Nevada politicians,” The Nevada Independent; https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/big-pharma-big-bucks-analyzing-how-and-why-the-industry-donates-to-nevada-politicians; $G]
Still, actions in the legislative realm can have short-term effects on fundraising.
Take 2017, for example. Democratic legislators were pushing for a bill to rein in the costs of insulin by requiring companies to disclose certain profits and costs associated with the production and sale of diabetes drugs. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed this legislation before signing a similar bill that he said would better ensure that insulin prices do not increase.
From June to December 2017, Republican legislators and committees received nearly $540,000 from the pharmaceutical industry, according to The Indy’s analysis. The Democrats’ haul over that same time period? Around $15,000.
In 2018, though, industry donations to Democrats ballooned to more than $315,000.
“If Democrats take an action that runs contrary to pharma’s interests, they'll be likely to withhold money,” UNLV political science professor Ken Miller said. “They won't do it very long — industry PACs tend to make a short term statement by holding back donations for a cycle or so — but then they'll come back because they need to maintain these relationships.”
Weeks before the 2017 legislation passed, PhRMA — the industry’s top lobbying firm and main opposition to the 2017 bill — created a new PAC called the Healthy Nevada PAC. That year, PhRMA poured $455,000 into the PAC, which has supported lawmakers in both parties.