Hotel cancels Hawley fundraiser

Loews Hotels will not host a fundraiser with Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the latest indication that many companies are distancing themselves from Republicans who voted to overturn the election results.

Fighting for Missouri, a political action committee affiliated with Hawley, had planned to host a “funfilled, familyfriendly Orlando weekend event” with the senator at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando from Feb. 12 to 15, according to an invitation for the event. Tickets were being sold for $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the size of the group.

But Loews said the fundraiser had been called off after the deadly riot on the Capitol, which many Democrats and Republicans have blamed in part on Hawley and other members of his party who supported President Trump’s efforts to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

“We are horrified and opposed to the events at the Capitol and all who supported and incited the actions,” the company said on Twitter. “In light of those events and for the safety of our guests and team members, we have informed the host of the Feb. fundraiser that it will no longer be held at Loews Hotels.”

Hawley criticized the decision by Loews, which was established in 1960 and owns or operates 26 properties in the United States and Canada.

“If these corporations don’t want conservatives to speak, they should just be honest about it,” he said in a statement. “But to equate leading a debate on the floor of the Senate with inciting violence is a lie, and it’s dangerous.”

Hawley persisted in his challenge to the election results even after the mob was cleared out of the Capitol last week, forcing the House and Senate into two hours of debate over Pennsylvania’s electoral votes even though he never made a specific charge of wrongdoing.

The rejection by Loews came after Simon & Schuster said that it would cancel the publication of an upcoming book by Hawley.