When he ran for re-election during the 2023-24 election cycle, Kentucky Republican Brett Guthrie raised $851,493 during the first nine months of his campaign.
Then he ascended to the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January 2025 — and more than tripled his fundraising.
And the amount of money he raised from political action committees — the vehicle that allows corporations and other special interests to help fund congressional campaigns — also grew, to $1.6 million between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 from $651,800 during the same period two years earlier, Federal Election Commission records show. That was more money from PACs than any other House candidate except Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
One reason he did so well: Guthrie raised money from around 100 PACs that had never written him a check before he became the committee chair this year, according to FEC and OpenSecrets data.
“It’s the obvious game of campaign contributions,” said Craig Holman, who lobbies on campaign finance issues for Public Citizen. “You make campaign contributions and expenditures to those who have direct influence over what policies you’re pursuing. That’s the influence peddling game at its rawest. This is the classic case of why campaign contributions really are legalized bribery.”
Guthrie isn’t alone. A look at congressional fundraising during the first six months of 2025 found several newly minted Senate and House chairs receiving checks from special interest PACs that had kept their checkbooks closed until the lawmakers got their hands on a gavel.
Consider:
- The Walt Disney Co.’s PAC didn’t support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in any of his previous Senate campaigns until this year, when he became chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which oversees the broadcasting industry. Disney, which donated $5,000, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
- New Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) received his first-ever donation, $2,500, from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, after landing the gavel of a panel with a health care subcommittee.
- The Teamsters Union PAC made its first contribution to the campaign of Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), in the amount of $1,000, after he became chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over unions. The Teamsters did not respond to a request for comment.
“They’re not making those donations out of goodwill but they’re making an investment and they expect a return on that money,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United/Let America Vote, an advocacy group that supports stronger campaign finance laws.
“That return can be in the form of what gets investigated, what gets ignored, what legislation makes it out of committee, what hearings are held,” she said. “You see corporate donors and corporate interests driving the agenda with these committees time and time again.”
Guthrie did not respond to requests for comment.
He chairs the committee whose jurisdiction was once described this way by former Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.): “If it moves, it’s energy; and if it doesn’t, it’s commerce.”
Mercedes-Benz gave its first-ever PAC donation to Guthrie this year, $1,000. The Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over auto safety and emissions standards.
The money was donated at an auto industry event hosted by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation’s PAC, company spokeswoman Melinda Mernovage said.
Guthrie also received $5,000 from the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns local stations throughout the country and temporarily took talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air of its ABC affiliates following his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
And his campaign took in $1,500 from Oracle, the technology company.
Neither company responded to a request for comment.
Muller said PACs “make these decisions on who they support on what’s best for their business. I’m not surprised that committee chairs are reaping the biggest rewards because they have the most power.”
Jonathan D. Salant is a freelance reporter and columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
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