Democrats And Republicans Both Spent More Campaign Money On American Airlines Than Any Other Airline—Here’s Why

American Airlines collected the most money that campaigns spent on airfare in the latest election cycle, with Democrats and Republicans both putting it first. Alaska Airlines beat Southwest by just $271.57, and one Senate campaign supplied nearly half of the political spending on Alaska. National Journal examined campaign disbursements for July through September. His ticket spend tally comes to just under $484,000. These are campaign committee expenses, which can include staff travel, not just the flights taken by candidates themselves. Here’s where the money went: Airline Reported Third Quarter Spending American Airlines $163,702.10 United Airlines $118,128.65 Delta Air Lines $77,381.50 Alaska Airlines $50,315.29 Southwest Airlines $50,043.72 JetBlue Airways $13,783.24 American and United together accounted for about 58% of campaign airfare spending. Democrats spent $299,300, Republicans $156,400, and other candidates $28,300. The three biggest spending campaigns belonged to Democrats. Kirk A. Bado shared National Journal’s campaign airfare analysis on November 12, 2026. American’s Washington National Hub Is A Big Driver American dominates Washington National, the airport most convenient to Capitol Hill. United has its hub at Dulles, plus a network connecting the country’s major business and fundraising markets. I’ve written about the politics of National’s flight restrictions. Congress limits access to the airport, and American’s large slot holdings make its position difficult to challenge. Lawmakers are customers of the airlines whose access they help determine. Southwest’s large Baltimore operation is less convenient. Southwest serves National, too, but with a smaller operation out of the dilapidated banjo terminal. Delta’s third place makes sense from the other end of the trip. A Michigan campaign, such as Mike Rogers’, has an obvious reason to use Delta’s Detroit hub, and the same applies to Atlanta and Minneapolis travel. And Delta also has hubs at New York JFK and LaGuardia. There’s money in New York. One Campaign Put Alaska Airlines Ahead Of Southwest Mary Peltola’s campaign spent just under $40,000 on air, more than twice the second place campaign. She was running for Senate in Alaska. Getting around the state requires flying in a way that campaigning in many states doesn’t. Her campaign pointed out in October that more than 80% of Alaska’s communities aren’t connected to the road system. About $24,750 of her campaign’s spending went to Alaska Airlines (63%). Another $562 went to Sterling Airways, which operates Aleutian Airways. Peltola accounted for about 49% of all the Alaska Airlines spending. Losing A Primary Didn’t End Thomas Massie’s Campaign Spending These were the top five campaigns in National Journal’s tally: Candidate Airline Spending Context Mary Peltola Just under $40,000 Alaska Senate candidate, with substantial travel needs within the state. Alex Vindman $15,629 Florida Senate candidate who lost the August 18 primary. He was campaigning during part of the quarter. Nanette Barragán $14,830 Los Angeles area House incumbent running for reelection. Her spending split about 60–40 between American and United. Thomas Massie $11,549 Lost his May 19 primary. The entire third quarter came after that defeat. Dan Meuser $11,437 Northeastern Pennsylvania House incumbent running for reelection. The source calls Alex Vindman a representative. He was a Florida Senate candidate. His twin brother Eugene represents Virginia in the House. Alex Vindman’s August primary loss also means a July–September total includes both campaigning and the period after it ended. American’s Miami hub and extensive Florida service make his $8,456 with the airline a natural fit. Meuser’s district is within driving distance of Washington. National fundraising and staff travel might make sense here. But Thomas Massie is an interesting case. Six days after losing his primary, he he filed a statement of candidacy for 2028. So he’s running, it just wasn’t for 2026 any more. I went through his original third quarter filing. The campaign seems to go through a lot of trip credits. There are $16,755.37 in positive entries and $5,206.59 in negative entries, for a $11,548.78 net. Campaign accounts don’t just close after a loss. Federal Election Commission rules allow travel connected to campaigning or an incumbent’s official responsibilities. Campaign funds keep getting spent. Kyrsten Sinema’s campaign kept spending on travel even after she declared she wasn’t running for reelection, including 49 American Airlines charges in the second half of 2024. The Biggest Surprise Is An 83% Spending Drop National Journal reports about $3.127 million in the first quarter, $2.841 million in the second, and less than $484,000 in the third. That’s an 83% decline from the second quarter, as the midterm general election approached. Primaries ending could reduce travel but I still don’t think I can explain this unless filings just need to be amended. And these filings have limits. Payments to travel agencies, charter operators or reimbursed staff can be missed by a search for airline names. Credit card purchases require following the underlying vendor disclosure rules. Spending doesn’t establish the number of flights, passengers or seats in first class. Ticket purchases and refunds also don’t necessarily occur in the quarter when someone travels. The foreign airline purchases are interesting, too: $1,329 to British Airways from Alan Grayson’s campaign and $1,658 to Virgin Atlantic from Ilhan Omar’s. Former Congressman Grayson ran in a Florida House primary in August. Spending with foreign airlines doesn’t capture all foreign travel (since U.S. airlines sell tickets to foreign destinations!) but these still stand out. Something else that may keep candidates flying? The miles. The FEC specifically ruled in a case involving a complaint against Jason Chaffetz that there’s no violation of ‘personal use’ rules created by earning airline miles on a personal credit card used for reimbursed campaign expenses. Topics on this page