End Citizens United sent a letter to Toyota demanding that its PAC ask for a refund of their campaign contributions from members of Congress who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the wake of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Read coverage of the letter in Politico Influence here.
After the January 6th insurrection, Toyota said they were reassessing their criteria for political donations. It was later revealed that their review was short-lived. On February 4, less than a month after its initial pause, Toyota gave $1,000 to Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W. Va.), who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Toyota stated that their brief review came to the conclusion that they would not base their giving criteria on one vote to overturn an American election. At the end of June, Axios featured a report from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) that showed Toyota was the largest corporate funder of members of the Sedition Caucus, donating more than double than the second corporation on the list. Following backlash from this report, Toyota said they would cease donations to those members of Congress “at this time”.
ECU’s letter reads:
“What is clear is that although Toyota has said it would not donate to these members, it has been a leader among its fellow corporations in donations to them. That fact renders its latest pause “at this time” meaningless.
“The only way to remedy this is to request a refund of all $60,000 and to make clear this is a permanent, not temporary, pause. Any action short of this will expose the latest announcement as just another public relations stunt designed to provide cover and mitigate reputational damage until it is safe to donate again.
“Without these steps, Toyota is actively deceiving the public about its financing of members of Congress who sought to overturn the results of a free and fair election. Toyota will have given tens of thousands of dollars to members it has said it will not donate to and has not committed to refraining from further giving to them.”
See below for the full list of Toyota’s contributions to members of Congress who voted to overturn the 2020 election results:
| Jack Bergman (MI-01) | $5,000 |
| Roger Williams (TX-25) | $4,000 |
| David Schweikert (AZ-06) | $3,500 |
| Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) | $3,000 |
| Diana Harshbarger (TN-01) | $3,000 |
| Jackie Walorski (IN-02) | $2,500 |
| Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03) | $2,000 |
| David Kustoff (TN-08) | $2,000 |
| Trent Kelly (MS-01) | $2,000 |
| Michael Guest (MS-03) | $2,000 |
| Carlos Gimenez (FL-26) | $1,000 |
| Ron Estes (KS-04) | $1,000 |
| Billy Long (MO-07) | $1,000 |
| Carol Miller (WV-03) | $1,000 |
| Tim Walberg (MI-07) | $1,000 |
| Ben Cline (VA-06) | $1,000 |
| Stephanie Bice (OK-05) | $1,000 |
| Cliff Bentz (OR-02) | $1,000 |
| Ralph Norman (SC-05) | $1,000 |
| Rick Crawford (AR-01) | $1,000 |
| Vicky Hartzler (MO-04) | $1,000 |
| Debbie Lesko (AZ-08) | $1,000 |
| William Timmons (SC-04) | $1,000 |
| Barry Moore (AL-02) | $1,000 |
| Jake LaTurner (KS-02) | $1,000 |
| Pat Fallon (TX-04) | $1,000 |
| Andy Biggs (AZ-05) | $1,000 |
| Beth Van Duyne (TX-24) | $1,000 |
| Mark Green (TN-07) | $1,000 |
| Jim Hagedorn (MN-01) | $1,000 |
| Daniel Bishop (NC-09) | $1,000 |
| Alex Mooney (WV-02) | $1,000 |
| Lloyd Smucker (PA-11) | $1,000 |
| Gary Palmer (AL-06) | $1,000 |
| Virginia Foxx (NC-05) | $1,000 |
| Greg Steube (FL-17) | $1,000 |
| Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) | $1,000 |
| Richard Hudson (NC-08) | $1,000 |
| Yvette Herrell (NM-02) | $1,000 |
| Jeff Duncan (SC-03) | $1,000 |
| Jim Banks (IN-03) | $1,000 |
Click here to read the full letter.
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