CREW

07/29/2025

Since the January 6 insurrection, over 2,000 corporate and industry group PACs have given over $174 million to members of the Sedition Caucus—those 147 lawmakers who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election as well as Donald Trump and the new members of Congress who ran on the Big Lie that Trump won the 2020 election.The attack on the Capitol was an alarming illustration of the violence that can result when people in power spread dangerous lies. It was also an existential threat to the continuing viability of American democracy, if election results can be met with violence from those who don’t like the result. Such a cataclysmic event should have marked a turning point in the political spending behavior of corporations—and for many corporations, at first it did.

Perhaps more than ever, CREW believes that the risks posed by corporations supporting leaders who undermine democratic institutions are extremely severe—to all Americans, and to the stability needed for companies to thrive. Over time, this project documented how more and more companies sacrificed their support for fundamental democratic principles to political pressures, resuming or continuing support for lawmakers who tried to overturn an election or spread election lies. In 2021, the Sedition Caucus received nearly $22 million in donations from corporate PACs. In 2023, the next non-election year, this annual amount had increased by over 90 percent to more than $42 million. In 2024, corporations stepped up their support again, donating over $49 million to the Sedition Caucus. This increase in corporate money to seditionists is particularly concerning as political scientists and scholars have been sounding the alarm about the Trump administration’s slippery slope towards authoritarianism. By continuing to financially support anti-democratic lawmakers, these companies and trade groups fail to grasp the serious business consequences of such a dangerous political trajectory