Commotion: Calls to Boycott Toyota

The viral Axios story covered a recent report from the political watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW. The report investigated corporate donations given to 147 politicians who rejected the results of the 2020 election. CREW found that Toyota led by a large margin, with 37 different donations totalling over $55,000 made just this year.

The investigation was a response to claims from around two hundred corporations who, after the January 6th insurrection, pledged to stop making political contributions to members of Congress who voted against certifying the election. CREW sought to find out which companies had held true to their word. It discovered that as media coverage of the January 6th insurrection faded, more donations started flowing again 

Toyota donated twice as much as the second company on the list, Cubic Corp., a San Diego defense contractor. One notable recipient was Arizona representative Andy Biggs from Arizona who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the election fraud claims.

While Axios labeled CREW as left-leaning, they claim themselves to be nonpartisan, and their past track record somewhat supports that claim: during the Bush administration they filed 41 lawsuits, and during Obama’s presidency they filed 38. 

Toyota responded to the calls for the boycott telling Axios, “We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification.” They assured the Dallas Morning News that they are bipartisan. “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,” another spokesperson said. “Because the party makeup of Congress changes from election to election, the percentage of donations to each party will rise and fall.”