Can Corporations Support Democracy?: The Vanishing Financial Cost of Election Denial Among House Republicans After January 6th

Can corporations play a sustained role in the support of American democracy? Through an examination of Fortune 500 companies’ campaign contributions in the wake of the 2021 Capitol Insurrection, I examine the responsiveness of corporate actors to undemocratic politicians. Specifically, I look at changes in campaign contributions to House Republicans who objected to the 2020 Electoral College results. I suggest that corporate responsiveness to elites can be explained via the trade-offs between public reputation and government access. Through a Difference-in-Differences (DID) event study, I find evidence of a sharp but declining penalty for Republican election deniers. I additionally demonstrate that more visible corporations were more likely to keep their distance, a finding which emphasizes the role of reputation in these considerations. These results suggest that while corporations have the capacity to respond to undemocratic politicians, their willingness to do so is bounded by their brand image and profit motives.