--- title: Mitch McConnell Tries to Have it Both Ways on Corporate Cash description: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the biggest boosters of corporate money in politics, has said corporations should stay out of political fights if they don’t want to incur the wrath of consumers. canonical: https://time.com/5953044/mitch-mcconnell-mlb-georgia/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-04-07T17:27:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:50:18.993Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mitch McConnell Tries to Have it Both Ways on Corporate Cash og:description: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the biggest boosters of corporate money in politics, has said corporations should stay out of political fights if they don’t want to incur the wrath of consumers. og:url: https://time.com/5953044/mitch-mcconnell-mlb-georgia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad4fce0db7f80eca/698a188616d8840183c39434/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US Senate to vote on the Paycheck Protection Program Extension Act of 2021, Washington, USA - 25 Mar 2021 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitch McConnell Tries to Have it Both Ways on Corporate Cash twitter:description: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the biggest boosters of corporate money in politics, has said corporations should stay out of political fights if they don’t want to incur the wrath of consumers. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad4fce0db7f80eca/698a188616d8840183c39434/mitch-mcconnell.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mitch McConnell Tries to Have it Both Ways on Corporate Cash  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Apr 7, 2021 5:27 PM UTC  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks from the Senate floor to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 25, 2021. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell walks from the Senate floor to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 25, 2021.Michael Reynolds—EPA-EFE/Shutterstock  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Apr 7, 2021 5:27 PM UTC _This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletter%5Fopt-in?qs=3a19a0aa35903a2d9f214b74f69a37910b58de73cf3f2b89adc123fac024f0478c72f91010ae9d01f08f46c616068cab3e74726837cd2cce70dac3796e46c2b4) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday._ I thought Twitter had to have it wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time the partisan corners of social media had taken something out of context or intentionally left out part of the statement. There was absolutely no way Senate Republicans’ chief Mitch McConnell had [told](https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mcconnell-demands-corporate-silence-gop-voter-suppression-efforts-n1263141) corporations to stay out of politics — but that they should please [keep](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/us/politics/mitch-mcconnell-voting-rights.html) sending checks to political organs, thank you very much. But, no. Twitter had it about right. McConnell, a steadfast critic of limits on campaign finance systems and one of the biggest [boosters](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/02/us/the-unabashed-and-unalterable-foe-of-the-campaign-finance-bill.html) of corporate [money](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/how-mitch-mcconnell-became-trumps-enabler-in-chief) in politics, told reporters yesterday that corporations should stay out of political fights if they don’t want to incur the wrath of consumers. The comments came after Major League Baseball announced it is [pulling](https://www.npr.org/2021/04/06/984711881/mlb-moves-all-star-game-to-colorado-amid-uproar-over-georgia-voting-law) its All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to Georgia officials’ decision to make it [harder](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/politics/georgia-voting-law-annotated.html) to vote in the state, [especially](https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/28/politics/voting-rights-georgia-souls-polls-blake/index.html) for voters of color. Georgia-based companies Delta and Coca-Cola have [joined](https://time.com/5952337/corporations-condemn-georgia-voting-law/) MLB lodging protests, as have national leaders, including the [President](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/06/biden-georgia-corporations/) and several Black [execs](https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-executives-put-pressure-on-companies-to-battle-state-voting-laws-11617211058). “My warning, if you will, to corporate America is to stay out of politics,” McConnell said. “It’s not what you’re designed for. And don’t be intimidated by the Left into taking up causes that put you right in the middle of America’s greatest political debates.” He added, “You know, Republicans drink Coca-Cola, too. And we fly. And we like baseball.” McConnell first hinted at this sentiment on Monday. Pressed by reporters a day later in his home state of Kentucky, McConnell subsequently clarified that edict excluded donations. “I’m not talking about political contributions,” McConnell said. Predictably, liberals and good-government groups screamed [hypocrisy](https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-not-talking-contributions-told-ceos-to-stay-out-politics-2021-4), and not without cause. McConnell’s message was basically that corporations should continue to cut checks but keep their mouths shut when it comes to tough policy questions. McConnell may be simply drawing on tactics from decades past. In 1990, Michael Jordan famously [said](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/%5F/id/29130478/michael-jordan-stands-firm-republicans-buy-sneakers-too-quote-says-was-made-jest) “Republicans buy sneakers, too” when pressed by civil-rights groups to take sides in North Carolina’s Senate race featuring conservative Jesse Helms. But we’ve come a long way in the last 30 years. Today, LeBron James uses his considerable brand to help [register](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/us/politics/lebron-james-voting-rights.html) voters. Recent years have seen more and more activism in corporate boardrooms and brand-centered enterprises. Indiana’s so-called religious freedom law went down in large part because Angie’s List [threatened](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/03/30/the-complicated-politics-behind-angies-lists-response-to-indianas-religious-freedom-bill/) to cancel its expansion there. More than 200 businesses [signed](https://time.com/magazine/us/4341384/may-30th-2016-vol-187-no-20-u-s/) a friend-of-the-court brief — written by GOP mega-lawyer Ted Olsen — opposing North Carolina’s anti-transgender bathroom law. The NCAA [boycotted](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/sports/ncaa-hb2-north-carolina-boycott-bathroom-bill.html) the state until the law fell. After George Floyd’s death plunged the country into a fresh reckoning on race last year, corporations like Disney, Nike and Netflix all [pledged](https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200612-black-lives-matter-do-companies-really-support-the-cause) millions to promote racial justice. (The movement hasn’t been exclusively liberal. The most notable example of a conservative win via corporate activism is a case [involving](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/us/hobby-lobby-case-supreme-court-contraception.html) craft store chain Hobby Lobby, whose conservative Christian owners sued the Obama Administration to seek an out from paying for contraception for their employees, and won. Still, it’s rare.) Such corporate activism can be good for business. A 2018 [study](https://www.edelman.com/earned-brand) from Edelman, the world’s largest P.R. company by revenue, found two-thirds of consumers vote with their dollars: if your brand supports consumers’ civic or political priorities, the consumer will go there over a neutral rival. But it can also draw unwanted attention. Earlier this week, former President Donald Trump called on his supporters to “boycott all of the woke companies,” seeking to punish Major League Baseball and other Georgia companies that have spoken out. McConnell and other Republicans have now made an All-Star Game into a battlefield in the culture wars. But for Republicans trying to regain control of Congress, corporate cash also can’t be ignored. To be clear, both Democratic and Republican political committees take corporate money. Many prominent Democrats have sworn off corporate money, but not [all](https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/charles-e-schumer/summary?cid=N00001093&cycle=2020&type=P). It’s not uncommon to see some corporations give equally to both parties so their lobbyists get invited to the next reception. Outside groups spent a combined $2 billion in the 2020 elections, [according](https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/fes%5Fsumm.php) to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund spent almost $294 million that year. The Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC, affiliated with Sen. Chuck Schumer, wasn’t far behind, with $234 million. It was the first election cycle to see a single outside group topped $200 million in spending. Corporate spending in politics across the board [fell](https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/01/corporate-pac-contibutions-paused-to-josh-hawley-and-others) dramatically after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The dramatic day gave corporate PACs permission to hit pause on their whole posture with Washington. Corporate America had put Republicans on [notice](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/19/congressional-fundraisers-lobby-companies-that-suspended-donations-after-capitol-riot-.html) that cash may dry-up if they lined up behind the effort to deny Joe Biden the certification of his win. After 147 Republicans in Congress voted against certifying Biden’s win, companies like American Express said those naysayers shouldn’t expect any more AmEx PAC money. Others like Comcast and Marriott also decided to hit pause on their giving while they assess if funding the rancor in Washington is good for their brand. With the House and Senate both within striking distance, McConnell and his House counterpart Kevin McCarthy cannot afford to have corporate money stay on the sidelines ahead of the midterms next year. They need the money if they’re going to win. Hence, McConnell’s conundrum, which manifested in this week’s brazen and inelegant shut-up-but-give stance. Not only will Republicans need money for the midterms, they’ll need money to fight the bad publicity as iconic brands like Coca-Cola, MLB and Delta actively work against Republican efforts. A lot of rank-and-file voters will take notice when big brands speak out against measures that impinge on Americans’ right to vote. So McConnell is left to lambast those companies—and ask for their dollars. No one ever said politics was rational. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the daily D.C. Brief newsletter._](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/politics?source=dc%5Farticle) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5953044/mitch-mcconnell-mlb-georgia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5953044/mitch-mcconnell-mlb-georgia/"},"headline":"Mitch McConnell Tries to Have it Both Ways on Corporate Cash","datePublished":"2021-04-07T17:27:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:50:18.993Z","description":"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, one of the biggest boosters of corporate money in politics, has said corporations should stay out of political fights if they don’t want to incur the wrath of consumers.","url":"https://time.com/5953044/mitch-mcconnell-mlb-georgia/","keywords":["The D.C. 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