Rep. Adam Smith, ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, received more than $500,000 in campaign contributions from the defense industry during the 2026 election cycle. (Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
After the Democrats’ decisive capture of the House of Representatives, a new slate of lawmakers will be responsible for the oversight and funding of national defense and homeland security. But industry players didn’t wait until after Election Day to exert their influence.
The current ranking members of the Armed Services and Homeland Security committees and relevant subcommittees – who are widely expected to become the chairs – have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies under their jurisdictions.
The defense industry contributed roughly $35 million to federal candidates this election cycle. Forty percent of those contributions went to Democrats, and the two slated to hold the top positions in defense policy and appropriations have received the most of any Democratic House candidate.
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Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, received more money from the defense industry this cycle than any other House Democrat – around $520,000. He has served on the committee since 1997 and chaired the panel from 2019 to 2023. In the most recent election cycle, the defense companies that have donated the most to Smith include L3Harris Technologies, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Palantir.
Smith told OpenSecrets that he would “never make a decision based on a campaign contribution” and has lost donors in the past because of that.
The industry’s contributions to Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee, trail just behind Smith’s at $511,000. McCollum is poised to control defense spending when Democrats take charge in January. Her top defense contributors include General Atomics, EO Solutions, Honeywell and Anduril.
Several top Democrats on the Armed Services subcommittees have been beneficiaries of the defense industry’s largesse, to varying degrees.
- Rep. Donald Norcross (N.J.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, has received the most from the defense industry of any subcommittee member – about $285,000, mainly in the form of political action committee contributions from top aerospace contractors such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
- Rep. Jason Crow (Colo.), the top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, does not accept corporate PAC contributions, but he’s received around $65,000 from the employees of defense and intelligence companies, including $15,800 in donations from Palantir employees this election cycle. In February, Crow announced he would donate to immigrant rights groups to offset the campaign contributions received from Palantir. The company’s employees have not donated to Crow since then, with the exception of one recurring monthly $25 donation from a software engineer.
- Rep. Joe Courtney (Conn.), the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, has received approximately $244,000 from the defense industry. That total includes nearly $65,000 from General Dynamics, with the majority of those donations coming from employees of General Dynamics Electric Boat.
The remaining Armed Services subcommittee ranking members have each received less than $50,000 from the defense industry.
Homeland Security Democrats receive contributions from major DHS contractors
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Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), set to chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, has brought in around $100,000 from the defense and homeland security industries. This includes $19,000 from OSI Systems, which provides body and vehicle scanners for use at the border, $10,500 from Anduril, the operator of AI surveillance systems along the border wall, and $5,000 from CoreCivic, which operates an immigration facility in Cuellar’s district.
Cuellar has previously advocated for technology-based border enforcement, introducing a plan for a “smart wall” drawing on Silicon Valley research and advocating for “enhancing surveillance and detection capabilities.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the current ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, has received approximately $60,000 from the defense and homeland security industries. OSI Systems has contributed $10,000, and Axon, which provides AI-powered technology for use at the border, has given $6,500. Thompson has also received money from two private prison companies that provide detention space to ICE – $5,000 from the GEO Group and $2,000 from Management & Training Corp.
“Nothing has ever, and never will, impact my ability to conduct oversight of the Department of Homeland Security and those it conducts business with,” Thompson said in a statement to OpenSecrets.
The ranking members of Homeland Security subcommittees have generally received very little from PACs and employees in the industry. Rep. Seth Magaziner (R.I.), of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, is the only member to have received more than $50,000. He’s received approximately $75,000, with the largest donations from employees and PACs of Textron, Anduril and General Dynamics.
Defense contributors nurture lucrative relationships
Many of the companies that have contributed the largest sums already have ties to the federal government through millions of dollars in contract awards – and, in some cases, through relationships with top defense and homeland security Democrats.
In August, the Minnesota Star Tribune found that McCollum and her former chief of staff, Bill Harper, who now lobbies on behalf of Minnesota-based defense companies, have steered Defense Department contracts to the state. Emails obtained by the Star Tribune showed how McCollum pushed for Pentagon funding for Minnesota projects, including a nearly $100 million Army contract for the company North Wind. North Wind’s employees have been among McCollum’s top donor groups in recent elections and have contributed a total of $16,000 this cycle.
Harper isn’t the only ex-staffer of top defense Democrats who has transitioned to lobbying for the industry. Shana Chandler, who served as Smith’s chief of staff for 15 years, is now director of government relations at General Dynamics. The company’s political action committee has given a total of $15,000 to Smith’s campaign and leadership PAC this cycle, and Chandler has given $1,000.
Thompson’s former chief of staff, Lanier Avant, now lobbies the House for GEO Group with a focus on homeland security. GEO Group – one of the Department of Homeland Security’s largest contractors – has paid Avant $160,000 every year since 2020.
Cuellar has also had close ties to Homeland Security contractors in the past. In 2020, emails released through a hack of license plate reader company Perceptics revealed Cuellar had provided favors for the company, including pushing for government use of the technologies it produces. The Intercept reported that the point of contact between Cuellar and Perceptics was lobbyist Cristina Antelo.
Antelo contributed $3,500 to Cuellar’s current campaign and hosted a March 2026 fundraiser for him. Antelo’s lobbying firm continues to focus on surveillance technology companies contracting with the Department of Homeland Security. Palantir is now the firm’s top client.
