On the second anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the Capitol and 147 GOP members of Congress voting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, End Citizens United released an updated memo highlighting the amount of corporate donations to support election deniers.
“These corporations are playing a dangerous game by risking the stability of our democracy in an attempt to buy more access and influence,” said End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller. “They’ve shown that they will support extremism and attempts to overturn the will of the people – even political violence – as long as it comes with their desired policy outcomes. They should instead side with the American people who want to protect our democracy and want less radicalization and extremism in politics.”
Key points from the memo:
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After the riots and attack on the Capitol on January 6th, corporations directed $69 million to the 147 members of Congress who attempted to overthrow the election, and the committees they control.
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Of the 78 corporations that broke pledges to pause or refrain from donating, many cited flimsy new standards or the need to buy influence and access, and some even characterized the members’ actions as peaceful.
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Many corporations extended their giving to fund anti-voting laws across the state, supporting local legislators who pushed misinformation about the election and passed laws to restrict voting.
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The insurrectionists who received the most corporate support were the leaders, Reps. McCarthy and Scalise. The top recipients were:
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Kevin McCarthy $2,682,000
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Steve Scalise $1,980,550
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Blaine Luetkemeyer $1,348,800
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Richard Hudson $1,130,150
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Jason Smith $1,069,000
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Adrian Smith $987,150
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Sam Graves $980,400
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Glenn Thompson $936,245
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Elise Stefanik $826,750
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Buddy Carter $780,890
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Corporations and their PACs also spent heavily to support election denying candidates in state races across the country, including Kari Lake, AG Ken Paxton, Tim Michels, Lee Zeldin, amongst many others.
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