A Home Depot store in the Sunset Park neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City, February 22, 2022. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
It’s not just Toyota.A slew of Fortune 500 companies, led by hardware giant Home Depot and agricultural equipment manufacturer Deere & Company, donated more than $800,000 last month to Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election results, according to federal election contribution data compiled by the liberal group Accountable.US. In March alone, Home Depot donated $95,000 to 20 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2022 election results last January. Deere donated $75,000 to more than a dozen Republicans, and aerospace giant Boeing—the second-largest federal contractor in the U.S., with more than $23 billion in federal contracts in FY2021—donated $45,000 to 32 different Republicans who objected to the 2020 results, according to FEC records. General Dynamics, Motorola Solutions, FedEx, and Tyson Foods also each donated more than $20,000 each to multiple GOP members last month, according to the data. Political Action Committees (PACs) tied to the beef, cotton, and rural broadband lobbies all donated at least $30,000 to Jan. 6 objectors as well, according to Accountable.US. In total, House Republicans who voted against the certification of the 2020 election—even after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and delayed the vote for several hours—raked in more than $800,000 from corporate and trade group PACs last month. Such groups have donated more than $12 million to Jan. 6 objectors since the insurrection. “Corporations that have failed to align their political spending with their stated values supporting democracy should stop misleading the public about what they value far more—amassing political influence,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said in a statement to VICE News. “It’s short-sighted for any corporation to marginalize concerns from its customers and shareholders when it comes to democracy, because a healthy democracy will always be what’s best for business.”Home Depot, by far, has been the biggest corporate donor to Republicans who voted to overturn the election, giving $360,000 to such candidates since January 2021. The top recipients of the money included House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ($456,000), House Minority Whip Steve Scalise ($353,000), and Missouri Rep. Sam Graves ($290,000). Home Depot did not respond to a request for comment from VICE News Wednesday, but it told Yahoo Finance last month that the company’s PAC “supports candidates on both sides of the aisle who champion pro-business, pro-retail positions that create jobs and economic growth.” Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.
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