Amazon, Amex and more pledged to withhold donations from election deniers. Then they quietly restarted them

Dozens of companies that pledged to withhold donations to members of Congress who objected to the 2020 presidential election results after the January 6 insurrection have since resumed some of those contributions, according to recent campaign filings.

The Independent reviewed data compiled by Accountable.Us’s Corporate Donation Tracker and examined only corporations that released a statement pledging to withhold donations to election deniers after the Capitol attack, tracking them from 7 January 2021 to the most recent campaign filings as of Friday.

At least 80 companies, business organisations, or corporate political action committees donated a total of more than $6m to at least one of the 147 members of the House or Representatives and eight of the United States Senators who objected to election results after they had said they would either withhold money or review their practices.

The American Bankers’ Association’s PAC, known as BANKPAC, donated the most to Republicans who objected, contributing $724,000 to 109 Republicans, with $10,500 going to Representative Michael Guest of Mississippi’s 3rd District.

Other companies that said that they would refrain from giving to election deniers included Amazon. After the company said it had “suspended contributions to any Member of Congress who voted to override the results of the US Presidential election,” its PAC subsequently contributed to nine different Republicans who voted to object, Gizmodoreported last month. Among the recipients were representatives August Pfliger of Texas; Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma; Tom Cole of Oklahoma; Darrell Issa of California; Garrett Graves of Louisiana; Sam Graves of Missouri; Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida; Mike Rogers of Alabama; and Rob Wittman of Virginia.

In February of this year, it also contributed $30,000 to the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, the House GOP’s campaign arm. In an email to The Independent, Amazon said that it has long given to members of both parties.

“When we announced shortly after the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 that we would suspend donations to members of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, it was not intended to be permanent,” it said. “It’s been more than 21 months since that suspension and, like a number of companies, we’ve resumed giving to some members.”

But Lindsey Melki of Accountable.Us said that caps on donations are for the entire cycle, which means that it makes no difference whether a company contributed in January 2021 or September 2022.

“The result is the same tacit endorsement of those who reject the democratic ideals shared by most Americans,” she told The Independent. “It sends a clear message that politicians who devalue democracy need only wait out phony condemnations of their behaviour from corporate donors, which only threatens our fragile democracy more.”

Robert Maguire, research director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, also criticised the defense.

“If an actual attack on the Capitol that aims to stop the peaceful transfer of power and essentially reinstall the losing candidate as president can’t stop major donors from giving to these lawmakers who hold power over their business in one way or another, then what will?” he told The Independent.

Mr Maguire said that tracking campaign contributions mattered because the lie that the election was stolen from former president Donald Trump has become a core tenet of Republican ideology.

“Every day is January 6 now,” he said. “The emergency that was exposed on January 6 did not start on January 6 and did not end on January 6. We still are facing a losing candidate who is spreading lies about winning an election that he lost, and that lie is forming the basis of legislation around the country that is aiming to make it more difficult to vote, that is aiming to disenfranchise the votes of communities of colour.”

Senior Republicans received most of the contributions from PACs. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is set to be speaker of the House if Republicans win the majority on Tuesday, received contributions from 31 groups that pledged to withhold donations from election deniers, as did House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who would likely become House Majority Leader in a GOP-controlled House.

Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who replaced Representative Liz Cheney as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, received money from 16 organizations that put out a statement and 89 entities altogether.

But not all election deniers are equal in the eyes of corporate sponsors. Members like Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Lauren Boebert of Colorado only received money from groups that did not pledge to withhold or review their donations. Conversely, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who lost her committee assignments shortly after the insurrection, and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, who lost his primary this year, received no money from corporate PACs.

Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina voted to object to the 2020 election results but then voted to impeach Mr Trump for his role in the January 6 riot. Many corporate PACs made contributions to his campaign after his impeachment vote. Mr Rice lost his primary earlier this year to Republican Russell Fry.

Some companies have faced a backlash when they went back on their word, as was the case when Toyota said in July of last year it would refrain from giving to candidates who objected to the 2020 election. The company gave to a number of Republicans who did, including Jackie Walorsk of Indiana (who died earlier this year in a car crash), Representative David Kustoff of Tennessee, as well as Representatives Trent Kelly of Mississippi and Garrett Graves of Louisiana. CBS News originally reported the story earlier this year.

““Toyota’s employee PAC supports candidates who promote issues important to our business, regardless of political party,” a spokesperson for the company said. “Like others in the auto industry and nearly 800 companies and industry groups nationwide, decisions to resume contributions to select members of Congress are based on a variety of factors, including the best interests of our company, our workforce and the U.S. auto industry.””

Similarly, American Express, which reiterated its commitment six months ago, then contributed $10,000 to election objector Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri’s 3rd District.

“Our PAC contributes to legislators on a bipartisan basis based on a range of policy matters important to our company, colleagues, and customers,” American Express said in a statement to The Independent. “We resumed contributions to a handful of representatives after an 18-month pause. We will continue to regularly review contributions to individual campaigns as we consider future PAC distributions.”

The Independent had reached out to Amazon, American Express, Toyota, and the American Bankers Association for comment.

“Many corporations recognize our democracy is under assault and have made broad proclamations supporting democratic ideals,” Ms Melki of Accountable.Us said. “But many of these same corporations have continued to support policymakers and organizations that continue to baselessly question the integrity of our elections.”

But not every company is giving to election deniers. Microsoft kept good on its promise to fund democracy programmes and research promotion.

Mr Maguire of CREW argued there was a business case not to give to election deniers.

“The companies that are giving are actually in some instances shooting themselves in the foot in the long term, in return for short term access and influence that they will get this year and over the next two years,” he said. “That’s because business, especially big business, depends on stability. They depend on the rule of law to actually do business and make the money that makes them so wealthy.“