On January 6, a violent mob stormed the Capitol of the United States, disrupting the joint session to confirm Joe Biden's victory. The incident left five people dead, including a member of the Capitol police who was crushed to death in the mele. 

Now, three major corporations tell Popular Information that they will stop contributing to Republican members of Congress who encouraged the rioters by objecting to the certification of the Electoral College vote.

The mob was summoned and whipped into a frenzy by Trump, who still maintains he won the election and relentlessly pushes baseless allegations of fraud. But none of it would be possible without the complicity of certain Republican members of Congress. January 6 is normally of no particular significance in the process of selecting a president. Congress opens up some envelopes and confirms the winner, who was already determined by the meeting of the Electoral College in December. 

But there were 147 Republican members of Congress, including eight Senators, who objected to the certified results of the Electoral College in one or more states. The participation of these members of Congress convinced millions of people that it was possible that, on January 6, the results of the election could be overturned and Trump could be installed for a second term. This was a lie, but tens of thousands of people showed up in Washington D.C. anyway. 

The objections also forced what would normally be a brief administrative exercise into a lengthy ordeal. An objection to the certification of the vote in Arizona forced the House and the Senate to separate into their respective chambers to "debate" the objections for hours. This provided time needed for the mob to launch their violent attack on the Capitol and disrupt the proceedings. The House and Senate were forced to adjourn and members retreated into secure facilities as the rioters roamed the Capitol, posing for photos. 

Before the riots began, 14 Senators said they planned to join the objections for one or more states. But eight Senators — Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), John Kennedy (R-LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) — followed through with their objections when the Senate reconvened after order was restored. As the world watched in horror, these Senators carried through with their plans to validate baseless allegations of fraud and undermine the democratic system.

The Kansas City Star said that Hawley had "blood on his hands" and should resign. The Houston Chronicle said Cruz's "lies cost lives" and called for his resignation.

Popular Information contacted 144 corporations that, through their corporate PACs, donated to one or more of these eight Senators in the 2020 election cycle. Popular Information asked if they would continue to support these Senators in the future. In response, three major companies said they would stop donating to any member of Congress who objected to the certification of the Electoral College vote. 

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is a federation of companies that provide health insurance for 107 million people in 50 states. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association PAC, known as BLUEPAC, typically favors Republican candidates. In the last three cycles, the PAC has donated $959,060 to Republican candidates and $359,550 to Democratic candidates.

During the 2020 cycle, BLUEPAC donated to three Senators who objected to the Electoral College vote — $10,000 to Tuberville, $1,000 to Marshall, and $500 to Hawley.

In a statement to Popular Information, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association President and CEO Kim Keck said it was suspending all support to the 147 Republicans who voted "to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results."

At the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, we continuously evaluate our political contributions to ensure that those we support share our values and goals. In light of this week’s violent, shocking assault on the United States Capitol, and the votes of some members of Congress to subvert the results of November’s election by challenging Electoral College results, BCBSA will suspend contributions to those lawmakers who voted to undermine our democracy.

While a contrast of ideas, ideological differences and partisanship are all part of our politics, weakening our political system and eroding public confidence in it must never be. We will continue to support lawmakers and candidates in both political parties who will work with us to build a stronger, healthier nation.

Marriott International operates more than 7000 properties worldwide and, even in the midst of a pandemic, is valued at over $42 billion. Historically, Marriott's PAC has favored Republicans but, beginning in 2010 began evenly splitting contributions roughly evenly between the two parties. 

During the 2020 cycle, Marriott's PAC donated $1000 to Hawley's campaign and another $1,000 to Hawley's leadership PAC.

Marriott told Popular Information that it will stop donating to all the members who voted against certification. "We have taken the destructive events at the Capitol to undermine a legitimate and fair election into consideration and will be pausing political giving from our Political Action Committee to those who voted against certification of the election," a spokesperson said. The company did not indicate when, if ever, it would resume supporting those 147 Republicans. 

Commerce Bancshares is a bank holding company best known for operating Commerce Bank. It currently has an $8 billion market cap and $54 billion under management. Commerce Bancshares PAC favors Republican candidates over Democratic candidates by a six-to-one margin. 

During the 2020 cycle, Commerce Bancshares PAC donated $2,500 to Marshall.

Commerce Bancshares told Popular Information that it has "suspended all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power."

Commerce Bank’s employee-funded Political Action Committee (PAC) contributes campaign donations to elected officials of both parties because of their pro-business records and because they are interested in helping to ensure the banking industry can serve both individuals and businesses. At this time, we have suspended all support for officials who have impeded the peaceful transfer of power. Commerce Bank condemns violence in any form and believes the actions witnessed this week are abhorrent, anti-democratic and entirely contrary to supporting goodwill for Americans and businesses.

All three companies appear to allow, to varying degrees, for the possibility of resuming their support of these members sometime in the future. But their commitment to indefinitely suspend contributions to more than half of the Republicans in the House and Senate is significant. 

A fourth company, Boston Scientific, told Popular Information that it was suspending all its PAC activity "in light of recent events" pending a review. 

In light of recent events and the polarized political environment, we have chosen to temporarily suspend our PAC activity and review our approach to future contributions. As we shared earlier this week, we believe in respecting the integrity of the democratic process, the election outcome and the peaceful transition of power. We remain committed to our values—including diversity and caring—in our work to bring meaningful medical innovations to physicians and patients who need them.

Boston Scientific previously donated $7,000 to three of the eight Senators who objected — $3,000 to Marshall, $3,000 to Scott, and $1,000 to Lummis. 

The other companies that responded to Popular Information's inquiry were less definitive in their future plans. 

Companies that will take subverting the democratic process into consideration

Several companies issued statements to Popular Information that were critical of the Republicans who objected to the Electoral College vote and said their actions would play a factor in future decisions about political giving. These companies stopped short, however, of saying they would stop contributing to the Republican objectors.

Bank of America:

Our PAC contributes to both parties and takes a lot of factors into account. However in the next election cycle the PAC will review its decision making criteria in light of the actions that contributed to the appalling violent assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Bank of America’s PAC donated $5,000 to Marshall. 

Berkshire Hathaway Energy:

Thank you for your inquiry. Within our industry, we engage with a wide range of stakeholders and may not always agree with every position taken by the candidates our employee-driven political action committee supports. Any future donations to Sen. Marshall will be carefully evaluated in light of current events. We look forward to working with President-elect Biden and the new administration to continue carrying out our commitment to creating a sustainable energy future.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s PAC donated $2,500 to Marshall. 

Ford:

Ford condemns the violent actions that happened this week, which contradict the ideals of a free and fair election and a peaceful transition of power. Our employee PAC contributes to candidates who support policies critical to Ford’s employees, communities and jobs. Events over the past year have underscored the need for a broader, ongoing discussion about other relevant considerations.

Ford’s PAC donated $15,500 to four Senators — $7,000 to Marshall, $5,000 to Hyde-Smith, $2,500 to Lummis, and $1,000 to Hawley. 

AT&T:

Prior to Wednesday’s Congressional votes,we publicly supported the U.S. Chamber and Business Roundtable in opposing efforts to delay or overturn the certification of Electoral College votes. As is their standard practice, the employees who serve on our PAC committee will weigh candidates’ positions, votes cast and actions taken when making decisions about future PAC support

AT&T’s PAC donated $33,000 to five Senators — $15,000 to Cruz, $10,000 to Marshall, $4,000 to Kennedy, $2,000 to Hawley, and $2,000 to Scott. 

Companies that are reviewing their political giving

Several companies told Popular Information they are reviewing the policies around their political giving or have not made any decisions.

CVS Health:

Future PAC giving is under review based on the events of the past few weeks.

CVS Health’s PAC donated $1,000 to Hawley. 

ExxonMobil:

Thanks for reaching out. We are reviewing the contributions of the PAC.

ExxonMobil’s PAC was the second largest contributor to the eight Senators. The company’s PAC donated a total of $38,625 to five Senators — $10,625 to Hyde-Smith, $10,000 to Marshall, $10,000 to Lummis, $3,000 to Kennedy, and $5,000 to Tuberville. 

FedEx:

FedEx has long supported candidates on both sides of the political aisle with the goal of promoting the interests of our organization, employees and customers. Multiple factors impact our decisions to support candidates, and we are reviewing all future political contributions. We condemn the violence that occurred in Washington, D.C., and fully support the results of the U.S. general election. We congratulate and look forward to working with the Biden administration on policy issues important to our company and our customers.

FedEx’s PAC donated $20,500 to four Senators — $10,000 to Marshall, $6,000 to Cruz, $2,500 to Lummis, and $2,000 to Hawley. 

Amgen:

The Amgen PAC makes political action committee (PAC) contributions to Members of Congress and candidates of both parties. Given that we are only a few days in to the new election cycle period, our PAC has not made any decisions on PAC allocations at this time.

Amgen’s PAC donated $7,500 to two Senators — $5,000 to Lummis and $2,500 to Marshall.

Target:

Target is fully transparent about our PAC contributions. Our TargetCitizens PAC is funded through voluntary contributions from our team members and contributes in a bipartisan manner to a wide range of federal candidates and organizations. We know that there isn’t a single candidate who aligns completely with Target or our team members on every issue, which is why we rely on established criteria like a candidate’s impact on our business, committee assignments, and more when we make contributions. Consistent with our current practice, we WILL continue to review our giving criteria and PAC contributions on an ongoing basis.

Target’s PAC donated $1,000 to Marshall. 

Companies that responded but declined to comment 

Hogan Lovells, 3M, and New York Life responded to Popular Information's inquiry but declined to comment. 

Companies that did not respond 

Of the 144 corporations Popular Information contacted, 128 did not respond.

The group that did not respond included the largest corporate contributor to the Republican Senators who objected to the Electoral College count, Comcast/NBCUniversal. According to Popular Information’s analysis, Comcast donated at least $44,500 in the 2020 election cycle to four of the eight Senators who objected to the Election. Hyde-Smith received at least $17,500 from the company. Comcast is a member of the Business Roundtable, which issued a statement on January 4 stating that it “opposes efforts to delay or overturn the clear outcome of the election.” It did not respond to Popular Information’s request for comment.

United Parcel Service donated at least $30,500 to five of the eight Senators, including $18,000 to Marshall. The company is also a member of the Business Roundtable. The company did not respond to Popular Information’s inquiry if it would continue supporting these Senators in the future.

Boeing has also donated at least $28,500 to three of the eight Senators since 2019. On January 7, following the riots, Boeing CEO David Calhoun stated that “the vote of the people and the peaceful transition of government are core to our democracy....In the spirit of bipartisanship, we encourage [elected officials] to work with President-elect Biden to unify our nation.” 

The Boeing Company @Boeing

From our President and CEO David Calhoun:

January 7th 2021

183 Retweets1,180 Likes

Boeing did not respond to Popular Information’s request for comment. 

Other major corporate contributors that did not respond include Altria Group which donated at least $32,500 to five of the eight Senators, Lockheed Martin which donated at least $30,500 to five of the eight Senators, and T-Mobile which donated at least $25,500 to seven of the eight Senators. 

The following companies did not respond:

Abbott Laboratories, Accenture, Aflac, Airbnb, Akin Gump, Ally Financial, Alston & Bird, Altria Group, Amazon, American Airlines, AMC Theatres, Anthem, Archer Daniels Midland, Bacardi USA, Baker & Hostetler, Bayer US, Bloomin' Brands, BP North America, Burger King, Capital One, Caterpillar, CBS Corporation, Charles Schwab, Charter Communications, Chevron, Citigroup, Clorox, Comcast & NBCUNIVERSAL, Cox Enterprises, CSX Corporation, Deere & Company, Deloitte, Delta, DLA Piper Llp, Dow Inc., Edward Jones, Northrop Grumman, Enterprise Holdings, Ernst & Young, Exelon, Fox Corporation, General Dynamics, General Electric, General Motors, Gilead Sciences, Glaxosmithkline, Glover Park Group, Greenberg Traurig, H&R Block, Halliburton, Hallmark Cards, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hilton Worldwide, Holland & Hart, Holland & Knight, Honeywell, iHeartmedia, Intel, Invesco, JBS, Jetblue Airways, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Juul Labs, K&l Gates, Koch Industries, KPMG, Leidos, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Lockheed Martin, Lowe's, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Mastercard, McDonald’s, Mcguire Woods, Merck & Co., Metlife, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power, Systems Americas, Morgan Stanley, Motorola Solutions, Murphy Oil, Nestle Purina Petcare, Netjets, News Corporation, Norfolk Southern, Northwestern Mutual, Novo Nordisk, Occidental Petroleum, Oracle, Pfizer, PG&E, Philips North America, Phillips 66, PNC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Publix Super Markets, Raytheon, Reynolds American, Rolls-Royce North America, Safeway, Samsung Electronics America, Sidley Austin, Sierra Nevada, Southern Company, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Aerosystems, Sprint, Squire Patton Boggs, Suntrust, T-Mobile, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Boeing, Coca-Cola Company, Hartford Financial Services Group, Home Depot, Kroger, Procter & Gamble, Walt Disney, Toyota Motor North America, Tyson Foods, Union Pacific, United Airlines, United Parcel Service, UnitedHealth, Universal Music Group, Verizon, Walmart, and Wells Fargo.