Corporations are backing election deniers running for attorney general
Major corporations including Microsoft, General Motors, Home Depot, Koch Industries, GEO Group, Altria Group, BNSF Rail, 1-800 Contacts and Zillow have donated to multiple attorney general candidates with a record of election denialism, according to campaign finance contributions analyzed by CREW. Other companies, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Comcast and CVS, have also donated to one of these candidates.
CREW analyzed campaign contributions to attorney general candidates who have “participated in spreading Donald Trump’s lie about the 2020 election, refused to certify the results of that election, or attempted to overturn the results” or took those actions in a subsequent election, according to an analysis of candidates and officeholders who have spread election denialism published by States United Action. Candidates who progressed through their primaries in Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas have received corporate contributions. Some corporations gave to the candidates directly, whereas other contributions came through corporate PACs. Some of the candidates are incumbents.
Attorneys general play key roles in administering and defending fair elections. That includes potentially suing the federal government to protect the state’s constitutionally defined role in administering elections as well as being willing to defend election results in court. By the same token, attorneys general have the power to undermine elections. For example, in 2020 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued four battleground states over claims of voter fraud, an effort that would have effectively disenfranchised millions of voters.
Corporate support for election deniers not only endangers democracy, it’s bad for business. Political stability encourages growth and innovation by ensuring a fair and predictable playing field. The rule of law is especially important. According to one study published by the Atlantic Council, “The rule of law is the strongest institutional driver of prosperity.”
Here are the election denier candidates for attorney general who received corporate donations:
David “Mayes” Middleton – Texas
Texas candidate David Middleton received contributions from General Motors, Home Depot and Zillow. In a tweet from March 22, 2026, he wrote: “The 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and Chip fought to certify a stolen election and certify Biden—now he wants to run the election integrity division in the AG’s office. Disqualifying. Texas and Paxton did as we should, use every resource and tool to stop the steal. That’s why I fought to restore the AG’s power to prosecute election related crimes, and will investigate and prosecute those breaking our election laws.” In addition, according to a social media post by a state Republican executive committee representative, Middleton was involved in “Stop the Steal” rallies in Texas in 2021.
Other major companies giving large contributions to Middleton: Gulf States Toyota and Valero
Drew Wrigley – North Dakota
Microsoft, Altria Group, BNSF Rail and Chevron donated to North Dakota candidate and incumbent Drew Wrigley. A book written by former Rep. Denver Riggleman reveals that after the 2020 election, Wrigley had an idea for a “last-ditch effort” to demand statewide recounts of absentee and mail-in ballots specifically focused on signature comparisons. His idea appeared to endorse the use of false electors in preventing the certification of Biden’s win. He wrote: “If state officials refuse that recount, the legislature would then act under the constitution, selecting the slate of electors.”
Other major companies giving large contributions to Wrigley: North American Coal, NextEra, and Continental Resources
Jon Echols – Oklahoma
AT&T, Koch Industries and the GEO Group donated to Oklahoma candidate Jon Echols. In 2020, when Echols was the Oklahoma House Majority Floor Leader, he signed a letter sent to the Speaker of the Arizona House Representatives that read: “If a legislature were to decide that, as a result of fraud, or some other reason that undermined the validity of the election, that the results will not be trusted, they would be obligated to appoint Electors that would represent the will of the people.”
Other major companies giving large contributions to Echols: Valero Energy, Energy Transfer Partners, and Continental Resources
Kris Kobach – Kansas
Kansas candidate and incumbent Kris Kobach, who has a long history of spreading false claims about elections, received contributions from Microsoft and Koch Industries. After the 2020 election, Kobach was involved in helping plan a lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to nullify the election results in some states. Trump chose him to work on an election integrity commission in 2017 that disbanded without finding evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Other major companies giving large contributions to Kobach: Bayer US, 1-800 Contacts, and Anheuser Busch Company
Raúl Labrador – Idaho
Koch Industries, Altria Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield, GM, Tyson Foods, Home Depot, Airbnb, T-Mobile and DIRECTV donated to Idaho candidate and incumbent Raúl Labrador. During his campaign for attorney general in 2022, he said that he would have joined Texas’s lawsuit challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election and claimed in a candidate questionnaire, “[T]here is no question that the 2020 election occurred under highly suspect circumstances.”
Other major companies giving large contributions to Labrador: NextEra Energy, 1-800 Contacts, Albertsons Companies and Reynolds American
Warren Petersen – Arizona
BNSF Rail, CVS, Allstate, Comcast, Blue Cross Blue Shield, GEO Group and Zillow donated to Arizona candidate Warren Petersen. Petersen signed a joint resolution requesting that the “alternate 11 electoral votes be accepted” for Trump’s victory or that the votes be “nullified completely until a full forensic audit can be conducted.”
Other major companies giving large contributions to Peterson: Cigna Health, Union Pacific Corp, Tenet Healthcare, and NBC Universal
Conclusion
Following Joe Biden’s victory, Trump propagated the fictitious claim that rampant voter fraud and issues with vote counting led to his defeat. In an attempt to overturn the election results, he and his allies filed lawsuits to challenge the results and devised a scheme to submit fraudulent certificates to overturn Biden’s victory in seven battleground states. Those efforts, while relentless, were overwhelmingly rejected.
Yet lawmakers and officials at all levels continue to promote disproven election conspiracies around Trump’s defeat. In 20 states, an election denier holds at least one statewide office position in which they possess power over election oversight. As it stands, nine election deniers running for attorney general have proceeded into the general election, with backing from some of the country’s biggest companies.
Lama Elsharif and Alyssa Meiman contributed research to this piece.