Northwestern’s lobbying efforts have totaled $1.14 million in the first nine months of 2025, its highest investment in the past two decades.
The third quarter — July through September — accounts for $230,000 of the expenditure, according to reports filed Oct. 17-20. Expenditures in the third quarter are the lowest of the year, compared to $306,000 in the second quarter, April through June, and $607,000 in the first quarter, January through March.
“Like many of our peer institutions, as scrutiny of higher education has increased on Capitol Hill we have increased our lobbying efforts to address legislative issues that could impact University research and operations,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Daily.
Lobbying topics have recurred across multiple quarterly lobbying reports this year, primarily in response to Trump administration policies. Issues included higher education taxation in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, student visa and immigration and “General issues related to oversight of Institutions of Higher Education.”
NU invested additional lobbying in issues including the National Institutes of Health’s facilities and administrative cost caps, as well as federally funded research. “Issues pertaining to combating antisemitism” was listed in the third quarter’s filing, with other quarters describing similar efforts.
The University lobbied on government appropriations in numerous sectors, including defense, the environment and health. Additional lobbying efforts focused on name, image and likeness deals in college athletics and “issues pertaining to Human-Robotic Teaming Research” in the National Defense Authorization Act.
Only in the second quarter did NU lobby on the OBBBA’s endowment tax, student loan and Pell Grant changes and “institutional risk sharing models.”
NU enlisted a total of nine lobbyists from Harbinger Strategies and Miller Strategies this year, both right-leaning lobbying firms. The University first hired Harbinger Strategies in 2024 and added Miller Strategies in 2025.
Of the nine lobbyists, five are revolving door lobbyists, defined as having previously held federal government positions before entering the private sector, which means that they are lobbying former colleagues. All five previously worked for Republican members or leadership offices in Congress.
Notably, three of four co-founders at Harbinger Strategies lobbied for NU. Steve Stombres lobbied for NU and was the chief of staff of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Kyle Nevins also worked for Cantor as deputy chief of staff. Manny Rossman served as a top aide to Senate Republican Leadership.
Harbinger Strategies Partner Jonathan Slemrod was a top advisor at the Office of Management and Budget, as well as for Senate Republican Leadership and House and Senate Republicans.
Jeff Miller, founder of Miller Strategies, was previously an adviser to Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and co-finance chair of the Republican Governors Association.
In comparison to other universities in the top 10 spots of the 2026 U.S. News & World Report’s annual National Universities rankings, NU has spent the second-most on lobbying between January and September 2026. Johns Hopkins University’s expense is the highest at $1,320,000.
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