Did Walmart donate $3.5 million to President-elect Donald Trump and Republican campaigns while giving nothing to Democrats ahead of the 2024 election? No, that's not true. Walmart's political donations come from an employee-funded political action committee, not the Walmart corporation. Public records show that while this committee supports both Republican and Democratic candidates, it didn't donate to either major party's presidential candidate in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on November 27, 2024, under the caption "Let it rot! Black friday just stay home!!!" The on-screen title said:
Wal-mart gave $3.5 million to Trump and Republicans. Also, 65% of their workforce is on govt assitance! This black Friday 'let it rot!'
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Dec 2 15:48:46 2024 UTC)
The post didn't provide any proof to back up its assertion that Walmart gave $3.5 million to Trump and Republican campaigns while giving nothing to Democrats.
Walmart: This claim is "completely inaccurate"
Kelly Hellbusch with Walmart's global communications and corporate affairs team called the social media post "completely false" in a December 2, 2024, phone interview with Lead Stories. She continued:
I am letting you know that that is completely inaccurate.
Federal Election Commission: Companies cannot directly fund federal campaigns
In a December 2, 2024, email, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) press office told Lead Stories that Walmart Inc., like any other company, isn't allowed to directly fund federal campaigns. The FEC statement said:
Corporations are prohibited from using their general treasury funds to make contributions directly to federal candidates, they are permitted to establish political action committees that are known as separate segregated funds (SSFs) which may make limited contributions to federal candidates. According to FEC records, there is an SSF affiliated with WalMart, Inc. registered with the Commission: WALMART INC. PAC FOR RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT - committee overview | FEC.
In American politics, a political action committee (PAC) raises and gives money to candidates running for office. PACs are usually set up by groups like businesses, unions or trade associations and focus on supporting candidates for Congress and the White House.
The FEC website (archived here) shows the employee-funded Walmart Inc. Political Action Committee for Responsible Government (WALPAC) made nearly 1,600 disbursements to both Republican and Democratic candidates between January 1, 2023, and November 16, 2024. However, none of the money was paid out to either the Trump or Kamala Harris campaigns. The screenshot below shows WALPAC contributions sorted for the two candidates with zero results:
(Source: Federal Election Commission screenshot taken on Mon Dec 2 19:28:14 2024 UTC)
The PACs -- DONALD J. TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT 2024, INC. and DONALD J. TRUMP REPUBLICAN NOMINEE FUND 2024 -- were consolidated under the committee name NEVER SURRENDER, INC. after the election and the Harris committee is simply listed under HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT.
Additionally, the FEC's financial summary page (archived here) for WALPAC shows the political action committee distributed just over $2.8 million from January 1, 2023, to November 16, 2024 (red ovals), well below the $3.5 million cited in the social media post. A screenshot of the page is shown below:
(Source: Federal Election Commission screenshot taken on Mon Dec 2 19:05:17 2024 UTC)
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Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims related to the 2024 U.S. general election and other elections are here.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims regarding Walmart can be found here.
