Harris Campaign Takes Lobbyist Donations Despite Saying It Doesn’t

The Kamala Harris campaign says it does not take donations from registered federal lobbyists, but Sludge found that it received donations from at least 20 of them from the day it took over the Biden campaign account on July 21 through July 31, the last date for which campaign contributions data is currently available. 

The donations were not refunded as of the most current data from the Federal Election Commission.

“As millions of Americans continue to support our efforts, our team vets all donations as quickly as possible to ensure they comply with the law and campaign policy, and we promptly refund any donations that do not,” a campaign spokesperson told Sludge after this article was published. The campaign initially declined to comment. 

According to the spokesperson, at least some of the donations highlighted in this post have been refunded and that will be reflected on the campaign’s FEC filing due in October that will cover September transactions. The campaign did not specify if the refunds were made after or before Sludge inquired about them.

Several of the Harris campaign’s lobbyist donors had previously given to the Biden campaign, which Harris took over. The Biden campaign also said it was not accepting donations from lobbyists, but none of these donations were refunded. 

Here are 20 registered lobbyists who donated to the Harris campaign during its first ten days:

• Joseph Vealencis, a Ball Aerospace lobbyist, donated $1,000 on July 25.
• Matthew Bearzotti, a Solv Energy lobbyist, donated $1,000 on July 30 and has donated $1,271 election cycle-to-date.
• Nicole Venable, a lobbyist for Invariant with many clients, donated $1,032.70 on July 22. Venable’s clients include Apple, Accenture, McDonald’s, and the Business Roundtable. 
• Misti Rice, Magna Services lobbyist, donated $1,000 on July 21 and has donated $1,750 election cycle-to-date. Magna is a Canada-headquartered auto parts manufacturer.
• Beth Viola, a Holland and Knight lobbyist with many clients, donated $1,000 on July 26. Viola’s clients include the Dow Chemical Company, Compressed Gas Association, and Kinross Gold USA.
• Fred Starzyk, lobbyist and owner of the lobbying firm Starzyk and Associates, donated $1,000 on July 28. Starzyk lobbies for Native American tribal organizations.
• Christopher D’Amato, a Park Strategies lobbyist with multiple clients, donated $1,000 on July 31. D’Amato’s clients include global mining company Almonty Industries, and Genetic Technological Innovations.
• Deanna Archuleta, a Vogel Group lobbyist with many clients, donated $1,000 on July 21 and has donated $6,250 election cycle-to-date. Archuleta’s clients include Coterra Energy, The Metal Company, and Genworth Financial. 
• Jeffrey Wiener, a Milne, Wiener & Shofe Global Strategies lobbyist with many clients, donated $250 on July 30. Wiener’s clients include biotech company Biomeme, pharma company Lupin Inc., and Rafa Laboratories. 
• Bruce Johns, a Boeing lobbyist, donated $500 on July 22. 
• Natan Derek, a Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals lobbyist, donated $250 on July 21. 
• Andrew Newart, a lobbyist for the U.S. Travel Association, donated $100 on July 21 and has donated $224.96 election cycle-to-date.
• Christian Zur, a lobbyist for the US Chamber of Commerce, donated $250 on July 21 and has donated $400 election cycle-to-date.
• Sherman Brown, a lobbyist with McCarthy Strategic Solutions, donated $5,000 on July 21.  
• Jamie Lawrence, a lobbyist for Adobe, donated $1,000 on July 25. 
• Jeff Hamond, a lobbyist with Van Scoyoc, donated $500 on July 21. He lobbies the federal government for foundations on tax issues. 
• Oscar Ramirez, a lobbyist with Fulcrum Public Affairs who has multiple clients, donated $250 on July 23. Ramirez’s clients include AirBNB, Google, Johnson & Johnson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Scott’s Miracle-Gro. 
• Josh Rogin, a lobbyist for the Motion Pictures Association, donated $250 on July 21.
• Shannon Finley, a Capitol Counsel lobbyist with many clients, donated $209.88 on July 30. Finley’s clients include American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Bayer, Intuit, Merck, and Walmart. 
• William Walters, a lobbyist for Select Medical, donated $100 on July 23 and has donated a total of $201.76 election cycle-to-date.

The Harris campaign’s lobbyist-donor ban has been reported by multiple outlets, and both the Harris campaign’s website and its ActBlue page say they do not accept donations from registered federal lobbyists, as well as several other categories of potential donors, including federal contractors, fossil fuel executives, corporate PACs, unions, and national banks.