The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) is a labor union formed in 2012 through the merger of two major unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), representing film actors, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), for television actors and radio personalities.
As a prominent worker association, SAG-AFTRA represents over 160,000 professionals in the entertainment and media industries, controlled by an executive committee and 25 local boards.
While the union has long described itself as nonpartisan, emphasizing its commitment to collaborating with members from diverse political affiliations, its financial contributions and the political engagement of its members suggest a clear alignment with left-leaning causes. Although it refrains from making formal political endorsements, over the years both staffers and actors have consistently contributed to Democratic candidates, highlighting the union’s underlying political leanings.
A Rooster of Left-Wing Actors
SAG-AFTRA has an influential roster of actors who over the years have remained loyal to the union and its cause. Hollywood actors—like Tom Hanks, George Clooney, and Robert De Niro—are SAG-AFTRA’s active members and have been strong supporters of the union’s advocacy, while openly sharing their political views.
In 2019, Robert De Niro was a strong supporter of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), expressing the expectation that politicians who align with the union’s values would also back it. Additionally, in 2024 the actor, a vocal critic of Donald Trump’s policies, called him a “clown” on CNN, accusing him of lacking the right intentions. De Niro also endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the same year. For his role in the 2025 Netflix series Zero Day, De Niro sought the expertise of Eric Schultz, a former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, to assist with set design and ensure the accurate portrayal of politics on the show.
George Clooney, a loyal SAG-AFTRA member, showed strong support for the union’s strike in 2023, donating $1 million to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. The actor has also been a consistent supporter of Democratic candidates, particularly former Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2024, he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times, urging President Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race, stating, “We are not going to win in November with this president.” Like his colleague Robert De Niro, Clooney has also expressed strong opposition to Trump and his policies. In 2025, Clooney and Trump engaged in a public back and forth after the actor appeared on the news program 60 Minutes to discuss his Broadway play Good Night and Good Luck. During the interview, Clooney emphasized the importance of the press, stating, “when the judiciary, executive, and legislative branches fail us, the fourth estate must succeed.” Immediately afterward, President Trump responded to the actor on his social media platform, Truth Social, calling him a “second-rate movie star” and a “failed political pundit,” criticizing Clooney for his ‘U-turn’ in supporting Kamala Harris over Biden.
At the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAGA), actress and activist Jane Fonda urged her fellow actors to actively engage in social movements and oppose Trump’s policies, drawing parallels to Hollywood’s resistance against McCarthyism in the 1950s. Although she did not explicitly mention Trump by name, Fonda was direct in addressing the controversy surrounding “woke” culture. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, she described it as simply another way to “give a damn about other people.”
The “Nonpartisan” Financial Support
Even the trade union cannot avoid showing support for political candidates who share their mission and align with its beliefs—even if that would mean contradicting its own stated position.
According to data from OpenSecrets, the coalition has been associated with political contributions totaling $437,415 since 2012, with over 90 percent directed to Democratic candidates. Union members have predominantly donated to Democrat presidential campaigns, with former President Obama receiving $11,377 in 2012, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receiving $14,665 in 2016, and former President Joe Biden receiving the highest amount at $31,294 in 2020. In 2024, former Vice President Kamala Harris received $29,432 in donations.
In the 2024 election cycle alone, 95.45 percent of the union’s $12,895 in donations went to Democratic candidates, while only 2 percent was allocated to Republicans. Prior to that, in 2020, union members donated a total of $73,679 to congressional candidates, with 77.69 percent of those contributions supporting Democrats and 3.87 percent backing Republicans.
A Long Battle on the Horizon
SAG-AFTRA exemplifies a trade union that claims political impartiality, yet its financials contributions and the political engagement of its members suggest a clear ideological stance—reinforcing the stronghold that left-of-center institutions maintain in the country. Today, both unions and nonprofits share a common goal: expanding their influence on shaping politics and culture. As calls for change challenge the status quo, these institutions are determined to retain their power and will go to great lengths to preserve it.
