Toyota Caves: Will Cease Donations to Republicans Who Opposed Election Certification

Toyota, the car manufacturer, caved on Thursday as the company announced they would stop sending campaign contributions to Republicans who objected to the electoral college certification in January.

In a statement first reported by Detroit News, the company’s spokesperson Edward Lewis said Toyota’s donations had “troubled some stakeholders.” In doing so, they announced that “Toyota is committed to supporting and promoting actions that further our democracy.”

The statement added that the PAC had “decided to stop contributing to those Members of Congress who contested the certification of certain states in the 2020 election.”

Toyota’s full statement:

Toyota is committed to supporting and promoting actions that further our democracy. Our company has long-standing relationships with Members of Congress across the political spectrum, especially those representing our U.S. operations. Our bipartisan PAC equally supports Democrats and Republicans running for Congress.

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. 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 statement came roughly two weeks after a report from Axios revealed the carmaker had donated $55,000 to 37 of the Republicans who voted against the certification, which the report noted was the largest amount from any other corporate PAC.

On Thursday, the anti-Trump group Lincoln Project announced a TV ad meant to attack the company over the donations. Since the car makers’ announcement, the anti-Trump group said it would no longer air the ad against Toyota and praised them for their decision.

RC Di Mezzo, a spokesperson for the group, said the car company “put democracy ahead of transactional politics.”

“We hope that the rest of Corporate America will follow their lead — we’ll be there to make sure of it. We’re just getting warmed up,” he added.