Why are some calling for a Toyota boycott? It has to do with the 2020 election
Some are calling for a boycott of Toyota over donations to lawmakers who refused to acknowledge the 2020 presidential election results.
A report from the left-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, found Toyota donated more than twice as much money to Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election than any other corporate PAC included in the analysis.
A corporate PAC is a political action committee affiliated with a company and funded by employees of that company. Because corporations cannot directly contribute to traditional PACs, parties or candidates, they use their affiliated PACs to “boost the campaigns of candidates aligned with their financial goals,” according to OpenSecrets.
Since Jan. 6 — the day far-right extremists stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden as president — Toyota contributed $55,000 to 37 of the 147 Republican lawmakers who voted against certification, according to the CREW report. The next highest amount was from Koch Industries, which contributed $17,500 to seven such lawmakers.
The contributions include those made to the campaigns and leadership PACs of the lawmakers, CREW says.
Toyota defends contributions
Toyota has since released a statement defending its contributions.
“We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification,” a company spokesperson said in an email to Axios, which first reported on the contributions. “Based on our thorough review, we decided against giving to some members who, through their statements and actions, undermine the legitimacy of our elections and institutions.”
Toyota said in a statement to The Hill that it “supports candidates based on their position on issues that are important to the auto industry and the company.”
But Toyota was trending Monday on Twitter, with some users criticizing the donations, calling for a boycott or saying they would no longer be supporting the company.
“Our household will never buy a Toyota after this,” one user wrote. “Anyone else?”
“Yep, my 2007 Prius has served me well and I was planning on buying another Toyota, but that’s (out) the window especially after their response,” another wrote.
Support after the riot
The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol came after former President Donald Trump and other Republicans repeatedly made false claims that the election was fraudulent and stolen and made efforts to overturn the results. During a rally shortly before the attack, Trump told his supporters to march on Capitol Hill.
During the attack, rioters in support of Trump breached the building — scaling walls, breaking windows and forcing lawmakers to evacuate and delay the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory.
When lawmakers returned, 147 Republicans voted against certifying the results.
Following the Jan. 6 attack, some corporations pledged to halt contributions that would benefit lawmakers who voted against the certification.
But the CREW report shows numerous corporations, including some that made commitments not to donate to those lawmakers, have made contributions either to those members or their leadership PACs, or to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which CREW says are “the two main Republican party committees supporting these members.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 8:26 AM with the headline "Why are some calling for a Toyota boycott? It has to do with the 2020 election."
