Toyota faces backlash as the top donor to GOP objectors to presidential vote

Toyota is facing criticism online after a new report revealed that the Japanese automaker was the top donor to Republicans who objected to certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

Since Jan. 6, 2021, Toyota’s corporate political action committee has donated a total of $55,000 to 37 Republican politicians who objected to certifying the election, according to data released from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a progressive watchdog group.

The automaker, whose North American headquarters is in Plano, gave over twice as much money to those who voted against certifying the vote as the next biggest corporate donor, according to the report. Defense contractor Cubic Corp. was the second top donor.

First reported by Axios, the political donation data has ignited criticism of the company online under the trending hashtag #BoycottToyota and spawned memes likening the company to the insurrectionists.

“We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification,” a spokesperson for Toyota told Axios.

The spokesperson is also quoted as saying that the company reviewed politicians and “decided against giving to some members who, through their statements and actions, undermine the legitimacy of our elections and institutions.”

Toyota did not elaborate on how it makes that distinction.

In a statement provided to The Dallas Morning News, Toyota said that its PAC is bipartisan; it did not address the future of its contributions to politicians who challenged the election results.

“With plants in 9 states and Toyota/Lexus dealerships in almost every Congressional district, the Toyota Lexus PAC supports a diverse number of candidates throughout the country. The PAC is bipartisan and structured so that no political party receives more than 60 percent of the overall donations and no less than 40%. Because the party makeup of Congress changes from election to election, the percentage of donations to each party will rise and fall,” Toyota spokesperson Eric Booth said in the statement.

After the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, 147 Republicans voted against certifying the presidential election results despite no evidence of fraud or manipulation of voting data.

In an extraordinary move, many publicly traded companies — including Toyota — pledged to re-evaluate or pause political donations following the attack on the Capitol. One company, Charles Schwab, disbanded its corporate PAC altogether.

“Given recent events and the horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, we are assessing our future PAC criteria,” Toyota said at the time.

The new report from CREW illustrates that some companies are wading back into their financial support of the objectors.

Thirty-four companies, including Dallas-based AT&T and Austin-based Dell, have donated at least $5,000 to campaigns and PACs of one or more Republican objectors in 2021, the report says.

U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell) was among the GOP election objectors who received the most funding from corporate PACs. Gooden received $23,500 from donor companies and business interest groups, according to the CREW report.