Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm closely entwined with the Trump administration, saw its lobbying revenue soar in the first quarter of this year as it helped clients navigate everything from Trump’s trade wars to culture issues.
Ballard Partners reported more than $14.4 million in federal lobbying revenue in the first three months of 2025, according to a review of Senate disclosures released by yesterday’s deadline. The amount is more than triple the $4.4 million that the firm was paid for lobbying in D.C. in the first quarter of 2024.
The firm’s ties to the Trump administration run deep. Founder Brian Ballard, a top bundler for Trump’s 2024 race, raised more than $50 million for the former president, according to the New York Times, and helped set up meetings for clients. Several former lobbyists from the firm now hold top administration positions, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
More than 120 new clients have registered with Ballard Partners since Election Day, likely seeking access to Trump and other decision-makers in his administration. Its highest-paying Q1 client was TotalEnergies EP Mozambique Area 1, spending $400,000. The liquified natural gas (LNG) project hired the firm as of Jan. 7 to lobby on issues including “LNG refining opportunities in Africa and Europe.” The project had been beset by attacks and allegations of serious human rights violations, but in March, the U.S. Export-Import Bank approved a $4.7 billion loan for it that had initially been awarded during the first Trump administration. The firm’s president Brian Ballard lobbied for the TotalEnergies client alongside firm managing partner Dan McFaul, who had also been a member of Trump’s 2016 transition team. The Mozambique project was slammed by Colin Rees, U.S. campaign manager for the group Oil Change International, as “a climate and human rights nightmare.”