Following the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, dozens of companies announced that they would at least temporarily be suspending donations to lawmakers.
In some cases, the companies paused their donations all together and in others, they paused donations to specific lawmakers who objected to certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
However, some corporate PACs have made donations to Republican lawmakers who objected to certifying the Electoral College vote.
As Axios reports, “Nearly three-dozen corporate PACs have donated at least $5,000 to Republicans who objected to certifying the 2020 election, yet Toyota leads by a substantial margin.”
While most PACs have kept the number of donations to Republican objectors to the single digits, Toyota has donated $55,000 to 37 Republicans who voted to reject the Electoral College vote — about one-quarter of the lawmakers who objected to Biden’s win.
Axios pointed out, “Toyota gave more than twice as much — and to nearly five times as many members of Congress — as the No. 2 company on the list, Cubic Corp., a San Diego-based defense contractor.”
A spokesperson for Toyota told Axios, “We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification.”
“Based on our thorough review, we decided against giving to some members who, through their statements and actions, undermine the legitimacy of our elections and institutions,” the statement added.
Despite companies cutting off donations to Republican objectors, The Washington Post reports that “at least a third of those 147 Republicans nevertheless raised more campaign money compared with the same period in 2019, boosting their collections from individual donors to make up the difference.”