On June 10, the Flowers Foods PAC did something it had not done in 20 years: It gave money to a Democrat. Three, actually.

Flowers, the bakery company that based on its political donations is the most Republican-leaning company in the country, gave a total of $10,000 to congressional Democrats last month: $5,000 to Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire senator, and $2,500 each to Representative Collin Peterson of Minnesota and to the PAC of Joe Manchin III, a West Virginia senator.

Image Joe Manchin III, a senator from West Virginia, was one of three Democrats to get a donation from the Flowers Foods PAC last month. Credit... Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Normally such expenditures wouldn’t merit much attention, but for the Flowers PAC they are a major shift in behavior. The donations represent 80 percent of the entire amount the PAC has given to Democratic candidates and committees since 1979. The contributions also are the first by the Flowers PAC to Democrats north of Georgia. Previously it had given only to Southern Democrats, mostly during the 1980s.