By Jessica DiNapoli and David Shepardson
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc, the world's biggest retailer and Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Co joined other major companies in indefinitely suspending donations to U.S. lawmakers who voted against President-elect Joe Biden's election certification.
The Arkansas-based company said on Tuesday that in light of last week's attack on the U.S. Capitol, its "political action committee is indefinitely suspending contributions to those members of Congress who voted against the lawful certification of state electoral college votes."
Disney, the entertainment company, said in a statement that in the "immediate aftermath of that appalling siege, members of Congress had an opportunity to unite — an opportunity that some sadly refused to embrace. In light of these events, we have decided we will not make political contributions in 2021 to lawmakers who voted to reject the certification of the Electoral College votes."
Other blue-chip companies including AT&T Inc (NYSE:T), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) announced similar moves in the past several days.
General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) said on Tuesday it had paused all political contributions after the Capitol events.
It joined other firms such as JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc's Google and Union Pacific Corp (NYSE:UNP) in withholding contributions from all members of Congress, rather than targeting those who opposed Biden's certification.
The announcements indicate that some corporate donors, which usually give money to Republicans and Democrats alike, are reassessing their strategy after supporters of outgoing Republican President Donald Trump attacked the Capitol last week, aiming to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's win. Five people died, including a police officer.
Before the assault on the seat of Congress, Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol to protest the Nov. 3 election results, which he has falsely claimed were "rigged."
When lawmakers reconvened after the incident, 147 Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate voted to challenge the Democratic president-elect’s victory in Pennsylvania or Arizona, even though both states already formally certified the results and election officials say there were no significant problems with the vote.
It is unclear whether the companies' decisions will have a lasting impact. The time period immediately after an election is typically a lull for fundraising activity.