Inside STAT: Ahead of election, pharma spends more heavily on Democrats

In the final weeks before today’s election, the pharmaceutical industry’s campaign donations have started flowing more heavily in an unexpected direction: toward Democrats. The party received 63 percent of the industry’s campaign contributions reported in the first half of October, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. All told, the GOP has received just over half of drug industry money this election cycle. The shift in donations toward Democrats comes just before an election in which they’re widely expected to regain control of the House. It also highlights an unresolved dilemma among Democrats: whether they should accept industry contributions in the first place. STAT’s Lev Facher has the story here.