Valero, USAA rethink political donations

Two major San Antonio employers are rethinking their political spending after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, leaving five dead, and a cadre of congressional Republicans sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Some of the city’s largest companies — including Valero Energy, USAA and Nustar Energy — gave more than $1.2 million within the past four years to congressional Republicans who later rejected the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden and tried to deliver the election instead to President Donald Trump.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who led the charge to overturn the results in the Senate, received $34,700 from major San Antonio companies for his 2018 re-election bid.

Those donations flowed from the political arms of Valero, USAA, Nustar Energy, SWBC, iheartmedia and Security Service Federal Credit Union.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who also was a leader in questioning the election results, got $7,500 from USAA and iheartmedia within the past two years.

But after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, a number of major U.S. companies have re-evaluated their campaign donations.

Among them: Valero and

USAA.

Valero has halted all of its political contributions with “no plans to resume them over the next few months,” company spokeswoman Lillian Riojas said Thursday.

Of San Antonio’s large employers, Valero gave the most to Republicans who later voted to overturn the results of the presidential election. Within the past four years, the energy giant gave $543,500 spread among 49 GOP candidates in that group.

The top recipients of Valero’s donations were House Minority Leader Kevin Mccarthy of California; Billy Long and Jackie Walorski of Missouri; and Brian Babin of Woodville in East Texas — all of whom voted against certifying the Electoral College votes, citing unfounded claims of widespread irregularities in the November election.

“We will continue to evaluate future contributions to assure they serve the best interest and values of our employees, shareholders and the communities where we operate,” Riojas said.

Within the past two election cycles, USAA’S political action committee gave $457,000 to 57 congressional Republicans who voted against the Electoral College results — including Mccarthy, Garret Graves of Louisiana and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise.

Before the events of last week, USAA said, it determined whether to pump money to political candidates’ coffers “based on their support of the military community and issues important to USAA members and employees.” Now, the insurance and financial services company said it is “re-evaluating our criteria for political contributions,” though it didn’t say whether that means it will suspend any portion of its political activities.

“The right to peaceful protest and free speech is protected; acts of violence are not,” the company said in a statement. “We encourage all Americans to champion a calm and peaceful transition of power — a hallmark of our democracy and for which generations of military members have served to protect.”

Other San Antonio companies haven’t said whether they plan to change their political giving.

iheartmedia Inc. — the local radio broadcasting company that distributes talk radio programs of conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity — handed $155,000 in the past two election cycles to GOP candidates who sought to give the election to Trump.

Nustar Energy donated $49,300 to representatives in that group including Mccarthy as well Texas Republicans Lance Gooden, Michael Cloud and Roger Williams.

Security Service Federal Credit Union’s political action committee gave $14,000 — including to Williams and fellow Texans Pete Sessions and John Carter.

SWBC gave $3,200 during the past two elections to Cruz and Louie Gohmert of Tyler.

Representatives for iheartmedia and Nustar did not respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for Security Service and SWBC declined to comment.

Some companies — such as Amazon, AT&T, Walmart and the Walt Disney Co. — have cut their political spending specifically to the 147 Republicans in the House and Senate who voted against certifying the presidential election.

Others, including Goldman Sachs, have said they will cut off funds to anyone who raised objections to certifying the results, regardless of whether they then voted to object.

Many large firms — Valero, Microsoft, Facebook, American Airlines and Coca-cola among them — simply have paused their giving to all political candidates across the ideological spectrum.

In the most drastic step of any major company, financial services firm Charles Schwab Corp. closed its political action committee, entirely ending its political donations.

The company cited the nation’s “divided political climate and an increase in attacks on those participating in the political process.”