Oil Tops $100/Barrel Again While Profits Flow to Trump-Backed MI GOP Candidates Via Campaign Donations

Lansing, MI  — As the price of oil surges again today to over $100 a barrel ahead of Trump’s expected visit to Michigan next Monday, Climate Power has compiled data from FEC reports that highlight tens of thousands of dollars of campaign donations flowing from the oil and gas industry to GOP candidates. This comes as oil and gas giants like Chevron reported $2.8 billion in profits and ExxonMobil $4.9 billion in the first part of this year, and Michigan drivers continue to feel the pain at the pump of gas over $4 per gallon.

In 2024, Trump promised his Big Oil donors — including Chevron and ExxonMobil — that he would enact policies helpful to their bottom line as he asked for $1 billion in campaign donations. Trump’s war of choice in Iran, attacks on clean energy investments, and decimation of pollution protections have all been a boon to Big Oil. Oil and gas companies could reap a $60 billion windfall from the “Trump Oil Shock,” which generated more than $30 million in profits for Big Oil every hour during the first month of the war. 

“Trump and Congressional Republicans have created an energy affordability crisis, and the only ones who benefit are oil and gas industry execs—and the GOP candidates whose campaigns they bankroll,” said Tom Lenard, Michigan State Director for Climate Power.  “Michiganders deserve cleaner, cheaper energy, but we won’t get it as long as this system pays off for Big Oil.”

Mike Rogers:

Received more than $28,000 in Q2 alone from Big Oil and Gas and Utilities, with a total of $140,000 so far this cycle. Rogers is also benefitting from $5 million being dumped into a super PAC supporting him from a wealthy Texas oil tycoon. 

Tom Barrett:

Received nearly $22,000 in Q2 from Big Oil and Gas and Utilities, with a total of more than $154,000 so far this cycle. In contrast, Barrett voted for the GOP budget bill that has gutted clean energy supply as energy demand skyrockets and everyday life grows even more unaffordable.

Bill Huizenga:

Received more than $18,000 in Q2 from Big Oil and Gas, with a total of more than $80,000 so far this cycle from Big Oil and Gas and Utilities. He also voted for the GOP budget bill that has gutted clean energy supply as energy demand skyrockets and everyday life grows even more unaffordable. And he supports keeping open the expensive J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Michigan that is costing Michigan ratepayers nearly $200 million more.

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