Microsoft Suspends Contributions to Lawmakers, Officials Who Contested Presidential Election Results

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Microsoft will suspend campaign contributions to any member of Congress who voted last month to object to the results of the 2020 presidential election, the company announced Friday.

The suspension, which applies to the 2022 election cycle, also targets state officials and organizations that "supported such objections or suggested the election should be overturned," said Fred Humphries, corporate vice president of U.S. government affairs, in an email posted on the company blog.

The announcement comes nearly a month after Microsoft announced it would pause all campaign contributions following the Jan. 6 Capitol Building riot and reevaluate policies for its political action committee, or PAC.

In evaluating its PAC, which is funded partly with donations from Microsoft employees, the company said it wanted to gather employee feedback before making a decision.

The company said it will create an initiative for employees and others who want to contribute instead "to work that will address the issues and policies that are important to the preservation and promotion of democracy."

Two weeks ago, Microsoft officials hinted at the possibility of ending contributions to election objectors. That came shortly after the company was the target of a brief but fierce publicity campaign by the Lincoln Project.



This is a developing story and will be updated.

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