MLB Suspends Political Donations After Capitol Riots
Major League Baseball (MLB) has decided to suspend all political donations in the wake of last week’s riots at the U.S. Capitol, the Associated Press reports.
The move comes as several corporations have suspended contributions who voted to decertify the elections.
“In light of the unprecedented events last week at the U.S. Capitol, MLB is suspending contributions from its Political Action Committee pending a review of our political contribution policy going forward,” the league told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Other major U.S. sports leagues could soon follow suit. The National Football League announced that it is evaluating its political contributions, but has not yet committed to stopping or suspending them.
“We are re-evaluating our political giving policies through the Gridiron PAC,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the AP.
Unlike other corporations that only suspended contributions to politicians who voted to decertify, MLB suspended contributions to members of both political parties.
“The Office of The Commissioner of Major League Baseball Political Action Committee has donated $669,375 to Senate and House candidates since the 2016 election cycle, with 52.4% of that money going to Republican candidates, according to The Center for Responsive Politics,” the AP reported.
Since 2016, MLB has donated to two senators and nine House members who voted to decertify.
“The Senate Republicans are Ted Cruz (Texas) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi), and the House Republicans are Roger Williams (Texas), Kevin McCarthy (California), David Schweikert (Arizona), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Markwayne Mullin (Oklahoma), Adrian Smith (Nebraska), Michael Burgess (Texas), Rick Crawford (Arkansas) and Elise Stefanik (New York),” the AP reports.
Major League Baseball is set to being Spring Training on February 27.