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Amazon Has Spent $138,000 To Elect Climate Deniers This Election Cycle
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Amazon Has Spent $138,000 To Elect Climate Deniers This Election Cycle

Amazon has positioned itself as a climate leader. Its political donations tell a different story.

Michael Thomas
Nov 7, 2022
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Amazon Has Spent $138,000 To Elect Climate Deniers This Election Cycle
www.distilled.earth

In 2019, Jeff Bezos announced a series of initiatives with an ambitious goal: positioning Amazon as a climate leader. He announced the company would reach net-zero emissions by 2040, and all of its warehouses and data centers would be powered by renewable energy by 2030. And he announced the launch of The Climate Pledge, an initiative to get other companies to join Amazon’s bold 2040 net-zero pledge.

“We’re done being in the middle of the herd on this issue—we’ve decided to use our size and scale to make a difference,” Bezos said.

But in the 2022 election cycle Amazon has decided to use its size and scale to elect 25 climate deniers to Congress. In total, the company has donated $138,000 to federal candidates who have doubted the science and causes of climate change through October, according to FEC filings.

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Amazon has spent $87,500 to elect 16 climate deniers to the U.S. House

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)

Amazon has given South Carolina Congresswomen Nancy Mace $10,000, the maximum amount allowed under current campaign finance laws.

In 2020, Rep. Mace told a reporter, “So, if you look at the history of Earth, we’ve had climate changes many times, over 130 times over millions of years. And so part of it might be man-made; part of it might be just natural environmental causes as part of the cycle of Earth.”

Rep. James Comer (R-KY)

Amazon also maxed out their contributions to Kentucky Congressman James Comer, giving him $10,000.

In a 2015 debate, Comer said, “I do not believe in global warming. ... We’ve had a very severe winter this year with 12-inch snows, so there is no global warming.”

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID)

So far, Amazon has given Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson $6,000.

A page about climate change on his official government website reads, “There is widespread disagreement as to the magnitude of human influence on the climate and the degree to which any effort by humanity to reduce carbon output would slow or reverse the effects of climate change.”

Here is a full list of House candidates who have doubted the science of climate change and received money from Amazon this cycle:

  • Rep. Nancy Mace (SC) - $10,000

  • Rep. Comer (KY) - $10,000

  • Rep. Darin LaHood (IL) - $10,000

  • Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA) - $10,000

  • Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC) - $10,000

  • Rep. Tom Emmer (MN) - $7,500

  • Rep. Mike Simpson (ID) - $6,000

  • Rep. Pete Stauber (MN) - $5,000

  • Rep. Don Young (AK) - $4,000

  • Rep. Randy Feenstra (IA) - $3,000

  • Rep. Glenn Grothman (WI) - $2,500

  • Rep. Bill Huizenga (MI) - $2,500

  • Rep. David McKinley (WV) - $2,500

  • Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (FL) - $2,500

  • Rep. Rob Wittman (VA) - $1,000

  • Rep. Darrell Issa (CA) - $1,000

You can view the whole list of House candidates Amazon supported and their views on climate change in this table.

Amazon has spent $50,500 to elect 9 climate deniers to the U.S. Senate

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN)

This election cycle, Amazon gave the maximum $10,000 to Indiana Senator Todd Young.

In 2014, Sen. Young told WLKY, “We’re often told there’s a consensus among scientists, and I’ve come to discover... that’s not necessarily the case,” in reference to climate change.

Sen. Young has consistently voted against bills that would combat climate change. His League of Conservation Voters (LCV) lifetime score currently stands at 7%, one of the worst in the Senate.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Amazon has given $9,000 to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.

Sen. Grassley has a long history of climate denial. In 2009, when a reporter asked him if he believes greenhouse gases cause climate change he said, “There's a massive amount of scientists that feel that it does.” Then he said, “There's also an increasing number of scientists that have doubt about it.”

Sen. Grassley voted against the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a bill that is expected to cut U.S. carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)

Amazon has given $7,500 to Utah Senator Mike Lee.

As reported by Emily Atkin from HEATED, Sen. Lee said in a 2017 hearing that there isn’t a consensus amongst NASA scientists on climate change.

Sen. Lee responded to Atkin with this tweet:

Twitter avatar for @SenMikeLee
Mike Lee @SenMikeLee
@emorwee "Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities" ≠ human activities are primary driver of trends.
9:04 PM ∙ Nov 1, 2017
3Likes4Retweets

Here is a full list of Senate candidates who have doubted the science of climate change and received money from Amazon this cycle:

  • Sen. Todd Young (IN) - $10,000

  • Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA) - $9,000

  • Sen. Mike Lee (UT) - $7,500

  • Sen. Joni Ernst (IA) - $5,000

  • Sen. Dan Sullivan (AK) - $5,000

  • Sen. John Thune (SD) - $5,000

  • Sen. Deb Fischer (NE) - $3,500

  • Sen. Marsha Blackburn (TN) - $3,000

  • Sen. Steven Daines (MT) - $2,500

You can view the whole list of Senate candidates Amazon supported and their views on climate change in this table.

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Methodology

In order to create this list, I searched Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings for donations from Amazon’s corporate PAC to known climate deniers.

I used lists of climate deniers originally assembled by Emily Atkin at HEATED and the Center for American Progress.

You can view the full list of donations and candidates here.

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Amazon Has Spent $138,000 To Elect Climate Deniers This Election Cycle
www.distilled.earth
2 Comments
NK
Nov 15, 2022

Thank you. So tired of people that could DO something about climate change getting paid to lie about it.

🗽🇺🇲🇺🇦

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kathleen
Nov 15, 2022

Thank you, Michael, for your research.

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