New Big Oil Campaign Contributions Show Major Republican Candidates in the Pocket of Big Oil Ahead of Midterms and Q3 Profits

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just days ahead of the first major oil company third quarter profit announcements and the November midterms, updated campaign contributions data from OpenSecrets.org show that oil money continues to fill the campaign coffers of Republican candidates in some of the most consequential races on the ballot. Candidates like Ron Johnson, Mehmet Oz, and Adam Laxalt have been mouthpieces for Big Oil, protecting the industry’s record profits and price gouging habits while condemning their constituents to pain at the pump. It’s clear why – their campaigns are bankrolled by Big Oil executives, in exchange for political support and favors to the industry as they continue profiteering off the backs of working families. 

If these radical Republican candidates win in November, their oil and gas disinformation will go further. It will manifest as legislative loopholes for super-polluting corporations, financial handouts to Big Oil, and anti-climate legislation that will keep working Americans in a cycle of fossil fuel volatility and surrender the hundreds of thousands of jobs a clean energy economy would create. 

Here are updated oil and gas campaign contributions: 

• Chuck Grassley, current Senator running again in Iowa, took $135,739 from the industry. 
• Ted Budd, running for Senate in North Carolina, took $116,802 from Big Oil. 
• Adam Laxalt, candidate for Senate in Nevada, took $233,952 from the oil and gas industry. 
• Mehmet Oz, running for Senate in Pennsylvania, took $113,834 from the industry. 
• Ron Johnson, candidate for Senate in Wisconsin, took $296,149 from Big Oil. 

As a reminder, major oil companies’ third quarter profits will be announced starting this week, ending on November 7th, and are expected to show another booming quarter for the industry.