ESA PAC Is Halting Political Donations After US Capitol Insurrection

Following the violent insurrection at the US Capitol building last week, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has stated that it will be halting political donations from the ESA PAC after several of its beneficiaries voted to overturn the US presidential election, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz.

"Given the events and actions that led to the violence at the US Capitol, we are pausing contributions from the ESA PAC as we reflect on the tragedy and our path forward," the ESA said in a statement.

A PAC in US politics is a Political Action Committee, a committee organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates based on the committee's agenda. PACs can donate up to $5,000 to a candidate's committee per election, and can also give up to $15,000 annually to any national party committee and $5,000 annually to any other PAC.

Following the riots at the Capitol, 147 representatives across the House and Senate--all Republicans--voted to overturn the US election results. Because of these actions, a number of corporations like American Express, Commerce Bank, Marriott, and BlueCross BlueShield have suspended donations to lawmakers that voted to overturn the results.

According to OpenSecrets, a site dedicated to making political spending public knowledge, the ESA PAC donated to five Republican representatives who went on to vote for the overturn: Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Earl L. Carter (R-GA), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Bill Johnson (R-OH), and Jay Obernolte (R-CA). The ESA PAC also donated $1,000 to Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, who didn't vote to overturn, but did sponsor the S.13 bill which would "establish an advisory committee to make recommendations on improvements to the security, integrity, and administration of Federal elections." According to Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), this bill was created in response to the results of the 2020 US election following continued claims from Republican lawmakers of election fraud, despite no evidence to support this claim and over 50 lawsuits attempting to overturn the results being denied, dismissed, withdrawn, or settled.