A New Statesman analysis of campaign finance data shows more than $2m has been contributed to the Republican cause in the past year by political action committees (Pacs) that represent the US arms of some of Britain’s largest employers, including BAE Systems, AstraZeneca, Serco, Barclays, Rolls-Royce and the London Stock Exchange Group.
The amounts are small compared to the sums donated by US billionaires, but they show that major participants in British business continue to engage with the Republican Party despite the armed insurrection of 6 January 2021, the party’s platform of aggressive and pre-emptive election denial, and Trump’s openly expressed enthusiasm for political violence.
In the days after the 6 January attack, many multinational companies said they would suspend campaign donations to a party that was accused of having helped incite the violent disruption of American democracy. However, the analysis shows that a number of UK-linked Pacs still contribute to committees sponsored by prominent election deniers such as the senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, as well as to other Pacs that contribute directly to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Foreign individuals and companies cannot donate to American politicians, but a multinational with an American subsidiary can, by joining or establishing a Pac. According to data compiled by OpenSecrets, the biggest Republican donor among UK-connected Pacs is the BAE Systems Pac, which is shown to have donated $392,000 to Republicans and $246,500 to Democrats in the 2023-24 cycle. OpenSecrets shows the BAE Systems Pac as having donated more money to Republicans than Democrats in every electoral cycle since 2012.
Federal Election Commission data shows that many of the contributions made by Pacs are to other committees. Among the largest donations made by the BAE Systems Pac are to the American Security Pac, which is sponsored by the Republican representative for Alabama, Mike Rogers. BAE has donated $7,500 to American Security this year and $56,500 in total. Rogers was one of a number of Republicans who attempted to overturn the result of the 2020 election, voting to contest the result and filing in support of legal action to challenge the result. In 2021, Rogers also voted against establishing a commission to investigate the 6 January attack on the Capitol.
American Security Pac is a “leadership Pac”, a type of fundraising committee that can donate directly to other politicians’ campaigns. American Security donates to other committees including the Make America Great Again Pac, which raises funds in support of Trump’s election campaign.
BAE Systems Pac has also donated $6,000 to Southern States Pac, sponsored by Mississippi representative Trent Kelly, who supported Trump’s legal challenge to the 2020 result and has used his position to vote against impeaching Trump or investigating the 6 January attack through a commission. Again, Southern States contributes in turn to Pacs that raise funds for Trump’s campaign.
Further donations from BAE Systems Pac include the Alamo Pac, which was founded by the Republican senator for Texas, John Cornyn, and which donates directly to the Trump campaign, and the Boots Pac by Markwayne Mullin, another Republican senator who denies the result of the 2020 election.
The UK’s two largest pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca and GSK, have also donated significant sums to the Republican Party through their political action committees in the past year. As recently as September, GSK’s committee donated to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s Bluegrass Pac, which in turn contributes to the committees of some of the most committed deniers of the 2020 election result, including Hawley and Cruz, who led the challenge to the election result. A Pac set up by the British multinational oil company BP has also donated to the Bluegrass Pac.
Two of the UK’s biggest high-street banks, HSBC and Barclays, also support Pacs via their US subsidiaries. Contributions made in the past year by the Barclays Group US Pac include transfers to committees supporting the campaigns of prominent 2020 election sceptics, such as Bill Huizenga and Ted Budd. The HSBC North America Federal Pac’s spending includes to a committee called Reclaim America, which is led by Marco Rubio and contributes directly to Trump’s campaign via the Trump 47 Committee. Reynolds American, a US subsidiary of British American Tobacco, has also contributed to Reclaim America.
Other Pacs related to well-known British companies include the Serco Inc Pac, which has donated to prominent Republican election deniers such as Rob Wittman and Hal Rogers, who voted against certifying electors from Pennsylvania the day after the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. BP’s Pac has also donated to a Pac called Greater Tomorrow, which has contributed to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.
All the contributions made are entirely legal and most form part of a broader engagement in American politics; many corporate Pacs donate to both parties and to a range of candidates. But this year’s election is different, because the Republican Party and the Trump campaign have spent years spreading the false belief that American democracy has been compromised. Most Americans recognise that Trump will refuse to accept the result if he loses, and there is widespread concern that the scenes that followed the last US election will be repeated. This time, the corporate finance behind the Republican party knows what it is supporting.
