Amazon Resumes Political Contributions To Lawmakers Who Voted To Block 2020 Electoral Vote Count

Amazon has resumed political contributions to lawmakers who voted to object to the 2020 electoral vote count on January 6th, 2021, the day that Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to block the results that would make Joe Biden the winner of the presidency.

Amazon’s contributions, first reported by the website Popular Information, were to nine lawmakers, all of whom voted against the certification of electoral votes in one or more states.

In the aftermath of January 6, Amazon announced that its corporate PAC would pause contributions and said that they intended “to discuss our concerns directly with those Members we have previously supported and will evaluate their responses as we consider future PAC contributions.” Amazon called the objections to Biden’s electoral certification an “unacceptable attempt to undermine a legitimate democratic process.”

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According to Federal Election Commission records, the Amazon PAC donated to Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Tom Cole (R-OK), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Garret Graves (R-LA), Sam Graves (R-MO), August Pfluger (R-TX), Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Rob Wittman (R-VA). All supported one or more of the objections to the electoral vote on January 6th.

In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said, “When we announced shortly after the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 that we would suspend donations to members of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, it was not intended to be permanent. It’s been more than 21 months since that suspension and, like a number of companies, we’ve resumed giving to some members.”

But the conduct of lawmakers before, during and after January 6th remains a significant issue, as the January 6th Committee has held a series of high-profile hearings and prepares to release a final report on its findings. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) continues to be critical of members of her own party that went along with Trump’s false claims of election fraud, or failed to stand up to it.

In the aftermath of January 6th, Amazon was among a number of corporations that said that they would pause or suspend contributions to the lawmaker objectors, enjoying the PR value of appearing to champion democratic principles. But as many campaign finance reformers predicted at the time, corporate lobbyists have since resumed their contributions as attention on their giving has waned.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, members who objected to the results have received $22.2 million from corporate PACs this cycle through June 30 of this year. Comcast also was among the companies that suspended giving, but it has since given $239,000 in contributions to 59 lawmakers who objected to the results, according to data from Accountable.US.

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