The business backlash is largely against Republicans who objected to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. More than 140 conservative members of Congress voted against the Democrats during last week’s certification. Since then, companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Marriot International announced they will not give money to those who supported efforts to disrupt the electoral process.
“While a contrast of ideas, ideological differences and partisanship are all part of our politics, weakening our political system and eroding public confidence in it must never be,” Blue Cross Blue Shield President and CEO Kim Keck said in a statement. “We will continue to support lawmakers and candidates in both political parties who will work with us to build a stronger, healthier nation.”
Other corporations, like Facebook and Microsoft, have taken a broader stance and halted funding to all political action committees of either party.
Hallmark has gone a step further and requested that Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall of Kansas return employee campaign donations after they challenged Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump gathered in Washington D.C. on January 6 to hold a “Stop the Steal” rally, as Congress voted to affirm Biden as the next commander-in-chief. A mob clashed with federal police and breached the U.S. Capitol building, causing the area to enter a lockdown. Five people died in the riot, including one police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.
Here’s a list of all the companies that have stopped giving political donations in the aftermath of the Capitol riot.
3M
The corporation has paused all state and federal political contributions through March and plans to reassess its spending policy in April, according to Bloomberg.
American Airlines
American Airlines said it would take a three-month pause from political giving to review its contributions and when it does resume spending it will “focus on a bipartisan array of lawmakers who support U.S. aviation, airline workers and our values, including bringing people together.”
American Express
The financial services giant announced on January 11: “Last week’s attempts by some congressional members to subvert the presidential election results and disrupt the peaceful transition of power do not align with our American Express Blue Box values; therefore, the AXP PAC will not support them.”
Airbnb
In a statement on January 11, Airbnb said its PAC will update its framework and withhold support from those who voted against the certification of the presidential election results."
Archer Daniels Midland
In a statement, the food processing and commodities trading corporation said it will suspend making any new contributions until it has completed a “thorough review of all of its political donation policies to ensure that these policies fully reflect ADM’s values as a company.”
AT&T
“Employees on our Federal PAC Board convened a call today and decided to suspend contributions to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of Electoral College votes this week,” AT&T said in a statement on January 11.
Best Buy
In a statement on January 11, the Minnesota-based Fortune 500 company announced it will no longer provide the contributions to the 147 members of Congress who voted against Biden’s certification.
BlackRock
According to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg, BlackRock said it has “decided to pause any further donations to campaigns of public officials from the BlackRock PAC, while we conduct a thorough review of the events and evaluate how we will focus our political activity going forward.”
Blue Cross Blue Shield
The company announced on January 8 that it will “suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy” by voting to subvert the results of the November general election.
Boeing
The company released the following statement on January 13: “We continuously assess our political action committee contributions to ensure that Boeing supports those who reflect our company’s values. Boeing strongly condemns the violence, lawlessness and destruction that took place in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Given the current environment, we are not making political contributions at this time. We will continue to carefully evaluate future contributions to ensure that we support those who not only support our company, but also uphold our country’s most fundamental principles.”
Boston Scientific
The medical device manufacturer said it was temporarily suspending all of its PAC donations and reviewing its approach to future contributions.
BP
“The BP employee political action committee will pause all contributions for six months. During this time the PAC will reevaluate its criteria for candidate support,” the energy company announced on Twitter.
Charles Schwab
The corporation’s PAC has halted all contributions to any lawmakers for the remainder of 2021. Charles Schwab said in a statement: “This pause will give the firm an opportunity to evaluate the best path forward to fulfill our long-standing commitment to advocate on behalf of individual investors and those who serve them.”
Citigroup
The company said it will pause all federal political donations for the first three months of 2021, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters. Candi Wolff, the head of the group’s global government affairs team, wrote in the memo to employees: “We want you to be assured that we will not support candidates who do not respect the rule of law.”
Cisco
The tech conglomerate said it wouldn’t provide any future contributions to the 147 lawmakers who “attempted to prevent Congress from fulfilling its constitutional duty to certify a legitimate and fair presidential election.”
Cintas
In a statement reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer, the company said it has “suspended all activities in order to review our criteria and strategy for the future in light of recent events.”
Coca-Cola
In a statement to The New York Times, the beverage company said it was suspending “political giving in light of the unlawful and violent events in our nation’s capital last week. These events will long be remembered and will factor into our future contribution decisions.”
ConocoPhillips
A representative for the energy company told The Washington Post that its employee-funded political action committee was suspending political contributions for at least six months as they review policies.
Comcast
“At this crucial time, our focus needs to be on working together for the good of the entire nation. Consistent with this view, we will suspend all of our political contributions to those elected officials who voted against the certification of the electoral college votes, which will give us the opportunity to review our political giving policies and practices,” the cable giant said in a statement.
Commerce Bank
Commerce Bank will suspend “all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power,” the company told the newsletter Popular Information.
Dell
Dell told Popular Information that it will “suspend all contributions to members of Congress whose statements and activities during the post-election period are not in line with Dell’s principles.”
Deloitte
In an email to staff obtained by Popular Information, the consulting firm said will “suspend political contributions” and “will not support those who work to undermine the rule of law.”
Dow
The company said it was immediately suspending corporate and employee political action committee contributions to any member of Congress who objected to Biden’s certification. The suspension “will remain in place for a period of one election cycle (two years for House members; up to six years for Senators), which specifically includes contributions to the candidate’s reelection committee and their affiliated PACs.”
Ernst & Young
The company told Popular Information that its PAC is suspending its giving effective immediately, and that future giving will “be guided by our business imperatives but also align with our EY values.”
The social media giant will freeze all contributions from its political action committee and is launching a review of its political spending practices, company spokesman Andy Stone told Axios.
Ford Motor Co.
According to Reuters, the American automaker has suspended all donations as it reviews events of last year.
General Electric
The board of the company’s political action committee “voted to suspend donations to those who voted to oppose Electoral College results.”
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs has paused all PAC donations to both major parties after what happened at the U.S. Capitol. The ban will likely be for six months, a spokesperson told CNBC.
The tech giant has frozen all political contributions by its NetPAC and said it would “review and reassess its policies following last week’s deeply troubling events.”
Hilton
The hotel chain told Popular Information that it will not be making political donations and will keep its political action committee “suspended indefinitely” as a result of recent events.
JPMorgan Chase
The biggest U.S. bank by assets said it will be pausing political action committee contributions for both Republicans and Democrats for “at least” the next six months.
Kroger
The supermarket retailer has halted all political contributions while it reviews its PAC-giving policies. The company plans to resume donations once the review is completed.
Leidos
The company, which specializes in IT and other technology services, paused all political donations. According to The Washington Post, Leidos Chief Executive Roger Krone issued a statement saying that “democracy thrives on passionate debate and different opinions but dies in anarchy and violence.”
Nike
Nike’s PAC told Popular Information that it “will not support any member of Congress” who voted to decertify the 2020 election results.
Marathon Petroleum
According to The Washington Post, the country’s largest petroleum refinery operator by volume is also hitting the pause button on political contributions. The company did not give a timeline for when contributions would resume.
Marriot International
“We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election,” Marriott spokeswoman Connie Kim told Reuters.
Mastercard
According to an internal memo obtained by the newsletter Popular Information, the company “suspended Political Action Committee (PAC) giving to members of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the 2020 election.”
Microsoft
Microsoft decided that “it will not make any political donations until after it assesses the implications” of the January 6 riot. Their statement added: “The PAC regularly pauses its donations in the first quarter of a new Congress, but it will take additional steps this year to consider these recent events and consult with employees.”
Morgan Stanley
A spokesman for the financial services company told The New York Times that it is suspending all PAC contributions to members of Congress who did not vote to certify the results of the Electoral College.
Northrop Grumman
The company was the first major defense contractor to halt donations, according to Reuters. A spokesman told the news organization: “We are pausing political action committee giving and evaluating the way forward.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers
A company spokesperson told Popular Information it has “suspended all political contributions to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electoral votes.”
Smithfield Foods
The world’s largest pork processor said on January 11 that it was pausing all federal campaign contributions until more information is known about the violence at the U.S. Capitol.
Target
According to CNN, the retail giant is temporarily suspending its political donations “given the political volatility of the past year, including last week’s events.”
United Parcel Service
A spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company has suspended all contributions for now.
Verizon
“We will be suspending contributions to any member of Congress who voted in favor of objecting to the election results,” Verizon said on January 11.
Visa
A Visa spokesperson told Forbes that the company will be suspending donations to both parties pending a review of their candidate contribution guidelines.
Walmart
The political action committee (PAC) overseen by Walmart Inc. confirmed to Newsweek on January 12 its move to “indefinitely suspend” all contributions to members of Congress who sought to block the congressional certification of the Electoral College.
Walt Disney Company
The company said in a statement that in light of the January 6 attack, “we have decided we will not make political contributions in 2021 to lawmakers who voted to reject the certification of the Electoral College votes.”
