Japanese automaker Toyota’s Political Action Committee (PAC) on the 8th of July, announced it will quits its policy of giving monetary donations to U.S. lawmakers who opposed the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election, after the anti-Trump PAC, the Lincoln Project ran an ad blasting the company for still donating to those Republican lawmakers.
“In fact, in 2021, the vast majority of the contributions went to Democrats and Republicans who supported the certification of the 2020 election. We understand that the PAC decision to support select Members of Congress who contested the results troubled some stakeholders,” the Toyota PAC stated in an emailed statement.
“We are actively listening to our stakeholders and, at this time, we have decided to stop contributing to those Members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election.”
The Members of Congress that Toyota PAC is pointing at, are about a dozen GOP senators and dozens of House representatives who opposed to the results of the Nov. 3, 2020, elections. Within the codified terms of the constitution, the objection process is lawful and similar objections have been made by Democratic lawmakers in recent presidential elections.
When asked if the company was concerned about pushback from Trump supporters, Toyota said it had no further comment.
The anti-Trump PAC, the Lincoln Project, started out an ad on Thursday against Toyota for donating to Republicans who they say are in tune with the allegedly anti-democratic movement that breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in process of the joint session of Congress while 2020 election was being certified.
“America’s free-market democratic system has been good for companies like Toyota for a long time, so why would Toyota support politicians who tried to overthrow the very system that’s been so profitable for them. … Toyota’s given more money than any company to the seditious politicians who voted to overturn the 2020 election results,” said the narrator in the ad which was being funded by the Lincoln Project.
“Toyota’s number one at finding ways to financially reward the very party that took our nation to the brink on January 6 helping finance a movement that violently sought to take votes away from American customers, not to mention Toyota’s own employees, and it’s time to call Toyota’s corporate leadership. If they don’t reconsider where they send their money, Americans will reconsider where we send ours,” the narrator added.
The commercial followed a June reportby Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington that revealed Toyota had given a total of $56,000 since Jan. 6 to those GOP members.
