Top firms slash donations to candidates by 90 percent: analysis

Ten companies that said they would end donations to Republicans who backed an attempt to overturn the presidential election in January have reduced their overall donations to candidates by over 90 percent, according to Reuters.

The news source analyzed donations by 10 major companies’ political action committees, including those of Comcast, Microsoft and AT&T. None of them donated to any of the 147 congressional Republicans who backed the challenge during that period. Overall, the 10 companies’ PACs made a total of $13,000 in new donations in January.

Although PAC donations typically drop following a general election, the figure amounted to under 10 percent of the amount those PACs donated in January 2017, when they gave about $190,000, according to Reuters.

During the two years of the 2020 election cycle, they gave more than $2 million to the 147 lawmakers they pledged to cut off.

Only two PACs, those of American Express and GE, reported any new donations last month to federal candidates. GE donated $5,000 to Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) while American Express’ gave the same amount to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).

Both lawmakers voted to certify President Biden’s Electoral College victory, and Kinzinger voted to impeach former President Trump on charges of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The GE PAC also donated $1,000 to Rep. Rick Larson (D-Wash.).

Despite the public pledges, several of the companies that said they will not donate to candidates who challenged the election results declined to tell The Hill whether they would commit to a long-term ban on donations to the lawmakers in question.