Philips, Ahold donated to 26 election deniers running to hold their U.S. Congress seats

Between 2021 and 2024, Philips and Ahold donated money to U.S. Congress members who deny the 2020 presidential election results, NRC reports based on the donation data of the ten largest Dutch companies in the United States, analyzed in collaboration with the American organization Donations and Democracy. Philips donated 76,000 dollars and Ahold Delhaize 20,500 dollars to the campaigns of 26 of the 147 Congress members who voted against the election results on the day of the storming of the Capitol.

On 6 January 2021, 147 of the 535 members of Congress voted against the results of the 2020 presidential election, despite the fact that several courts had already ruled that there was no reason to doubt Joe Biden’s victory. Philips and Ahold donated money to 26 election deniers in the following six months as these Congress members campaigned for reelection in 2022. This year, in the run-up to the presidential election in November, 14 of them received donations from Philips or Ahold.

In the U.S., companies are not allowed to donate directly to politicians, but they can do so via Political Action Committees (PACs) - lobbying organizations that make campaign donations to political candidates. Employees of companies donate to a PAC, companies themselves are not allowed to do so. However, the companies often pay the PACs’ office costs, like rent, staff, and fundraising activities. Often, a committee with members of the company’s senior management determines how the money is distributed among the candidates.

Through its PAC, Philips has made substantial donations to members of the U.S. Congress. Since 2021, the Dutch health tech company’s PAC donated around 270,000 dollars, over a quarter of which went to Republicans who voted against the 2020 election results.

Philips donated the most to Congressman Michael Bost of Illinois—12,500 dollars over several elections. Guy Reschenthaler of Pensylvania received 11,000 dollars. In interviews, he said that mail-in votes that had been received too late were wrongly counted in the 2020 election—a conspiracy theory that has been completely debunked. He also said that Donald Trump had no responsibility for the storming of the Capitol.

Philips also donated 4,000 dollars to Steve Scalise, currently the Republican speaker in the House of Representatives. He called the 2020 election “undemocratic,” refused to acknowledge Trump’s loss, and voted against an investigation into the storming of the Capitol. He also promoted a debunked conspiracy theory - that votes were found in a desk drawer, suggesting that votes had been lost. The health tech company also donated to Elise Stefanik, who spread the conspiracy theory that voting machines were abused to “steal” the election.

Since 2021, Ahold Delhaize’s PAC has donated almost 100,000 dollars to members of Congress. Around 20,000 dollars of that amount went to Republicans who deny the election results. This year, the PAC donated 2,500 dollars to Mike Johnson of Louisiana, who the New York Times designated as “the main architect” of the attempt to undermine the election results because he provided the legal arguments with which Congressmen questioned the results.

Ahold told NRC that its PAC operates independently, and it is prohibited for Ahold to influence its decision-making. On its website, Ahold says that the PAC donates to candidates who best represent the interests of the company and the supermarket sector. According to NRC, Ahold Delhaize donates almost exclusively to candidates from states where it also has supermarkets, with the exception of Mike Johnson.

A spokesperson for Philips told the newspaper that the PAC “consists exclusively of personal contributions from American employees” and that the company does not make any payments to the PAC. Philips gives mainly to candidates involved with healthcare, oversight, or taxes.

“It is misleading for companies to deny responsibility for the donations a PAC makes,” Christopher Avery, director of the American NGO Donations and Democracy, told NRC. “The board of a PAC decides which candidates receive donations. That board is appointed by the company.”