Despite Lilly opposing socially conservative ideas, CEO donates $25k to Pence super PAC

David Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, donated $25,000 on June 22 to a super PAC that is supporting former Vice President Mike Pence's run for president, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.

The donation to the Committed to America PAC, one of Ricks' largest ever, is notable in contrast to his company's vocal stances against the very issues Pence is most passionate about, like abortion bans and Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom and Restoration Act passed in 2015. But it's also unsurprising in the context of the reality of running a major corporation: Businesses see political contributions as a pragmatic, not ideological, ways to gain access and influence on issues affecting their bottom line.

Ricks has been CEO since 2017. His predecessor John Lechleiter, who was CEO from 2016 to 2018, also donated to the PAC on June 6, to the tune of $50,000. Lechleiter is now a Gov. Eric Holcomb appointee on the board of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.

A spokesperson said Lilly would not comment on personal contributions and did not make Ricks available for comment.

Pence is a home-grown Hoosier politician who, while not currently a frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, may stand to gain steam if legal battles end up consuming the campaign of former president Donald Trump. But he also is the first candidate to openly call for a national 15-week abortion ban, while Lilly objected to Indiana's near-total abortion ban passed in 2022; and as governor of Indiana, Pence signed and defended RFRA, to which major corporations like Lilly voiced vocal opposition for fear it legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

While those issues are important to voters and the 2024 presidential race, they are not necessarily the driving force behind a CEO's choice to hedge their bets, IU politics professor Marjorie Hershey said.

More: Since RFRA, Indiana businesses losing leverage in the Statehouse

"Corporations and many other big donors are looking for access," she said. "They're looking for the door to be open when they have something to say to somebody in politics. ... Lilly is not primarily an ideological organization. Lilly is primarily a corporation that wants to make money and get stockholder support so that it gets additional working capital that it can expand with."

Corporations, and individuals associated with them, tend to give to both sides of the aisle so as to not make enemies, but give more heavily to Republicans, whose policies and politics are generally more favorable to business interests, Hershey said. Pence, for example, oversaw a slew of tax cuts as governor, including corporate taxes.

Indeed, during his six years as CEO, Ricks has given to candidates from both political parties across the country, though more heavily Republicans. Many of these recipients were successfully elected and have either leadership positions or sit on committees Lilly would care about, on topics like commerce, agriculture and finance.

Since 2017, Ricks has given at least $380,000 to federal Republican candidates, political action committees or Republican campaign committees, an IndyStar analysis of FEC filings shows. Notably, these include Pence, about $100,000 over a few years to support now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, about $23,000 to support former speaker Paul Ryan, as well as $2,500 to Indiana Sen. Todd Young and $3,300 to U.S. Rep. Larry Buschon.

In the same time frame, he's given at least $55,000 to support Democratic politicians in federal office, including U.S. Rep. Andre Carson and former Sen. Joe Donnelly.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Lilly CEO David Ricks donates $25K to Mike Pence super PAC