A banker in Seoul, South Korea, holds dollars in his hand Feb. 22, 2005.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, dozens of U.S. companies that support the Democratic Party announced they would stop making political contributions to 147 Republican lawmakers who voted to overturn the 2020 election results. But two months later indications are that the corporate boycott has done little real damage to Republican fundraising.
Reuters examined contributions from more than 45 corporate giving committees that vowed to cut off donations to 147 Republicans, including eight senators and 139 House members. Instead, it turned out that these political action committees (PACs) gave about $5 million to lawmakers during the 2019-2020 election cycle, only about 1 percent of the money raised by lawmakers, according to information disclosed by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
In recent years, individual contributions of $200 or less have accounted for a growing share of campaign funding, while corporate America’s share has shrunk, demonstrating that corporate money is playing a smaller role in U.S. politics.
In January alone, Republican fundraising operations raised a total of $15.8 million on the strength of small donations. Regulatory filings show that these groups raised more than $2 million more than the Democrats that month.
Through interviews with Republican detectives, major donors and fundraisers, they had little concern that corporate divestment would hurt the party’s fundraising for the 2022 congressional elections.
Former President Trump‘s strongest supporters, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, both received significant grassroots returns, with contributions exceeding the amount of lost corporate money. And donations from wealthy individuals who want to fight the Democratic agenda are also pouring into Republican fundraisers.
Dan Eberhart, a leading Republican fundraiser, said he had predicted for years that Trump’s approval ratings would collapse and that he believed the events at the Capitol would be a turning point.
But “the numbers are just the opposite,” Eberhart said, “seeing support for Trump getting stronger …… I don’t think there will be a shortage of money.”
Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott serves as chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which supports Republican Senate candidates in their races. While he voted to challenge Pennsylvania’s electoral votes in the 2020 election despite the riots in Congress, the NRSC raised more than $8.3 million in January, while its Democratic counterparts received only $6.1 million.
Miles Coleman, a nonpartisan analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the rapid growth in fundraising since the Capitol riots suggests that most Republican voters are comfortable with a party remade in Trump’s mold “comfortable.”
“The Republican Party, it’s not going back to the party before Trump.” Coleman said.
Recent Comments