Corporations have given $10 million to election deniers after they said they'd stop

On Friday, POLITICO reported that dozens and dozens of corporations that vowed in the wake of the January 6 attack to stop giving campaign money to lawmakers complicit in the plot to overturn the election, have quietly gone back to their old ways, and given around $10 million to the politicians they said they'd swear off.

"Political action committees affiliated with more than 70 major corporations said they would pause or reconsider donations to those who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 election after the attack on the U.S. Capitol two years ago," reported Jessica Piper and Zach Montellaro. "Then they gave more than $10 million to members of Congress who did just that, according to a POLITICO analysis of federal campaign finance filings."

"In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots — fueled by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — dozens of companies including Walmart, Comcast and Lockheed Martin said they would either suspend political donations entirely or specifically cut off Republicans who echoed Trump’s stolen election claims or voted against certifying the election results," said the report. "But over the next two years, amid a contentious midterm battle, less than half of those companies kept those promises for a full election cycle, the analysis of campaign donations found."

Some of these details were previously reported by Judd Legum, author of investigative blog Popular Information. Legum, who has also tracked companies that claim to support LGBTQ rights while funding politicians who have tried to restrict them, identified Amazon, one of the many companies that took a pledge against election deniers, funneling money to 9 of them.

One major recipient of funds was GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who objected to certifying electors from swing states President Joe Biden carried. He received $285,000 from these PACs.

"The fundraising totals illustrate the limits of the changes that the events of Jan. 6 sparked in Washington," said the report. "The rhetoric that fed the riots has continued to be embraced by scores of Republican politicians, and they in turn have been kept in the fold by some of the big outside interests who condemned their position at the time. The turnaround also raises questions about what the corporations that paused contributions and later turned them back on were hoping to accomplish with their stand — besides a fleeting PR win."