Zillow will officially withhold support from all lawmakers who voted against certifying election results — dubbed by many the “sedition caucus” — in light of Wednesday’s violent assault by supporters of President Donald Trump on the U.S. Capitol, the company confirmed to Inman Wednesday.
Unlike others in the real estate industry, Zillow did not actually donate to any of those lawmakers during the 2020 election cycle through its political action committee (ZG PAC), but did dole out $11,000 to lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, according to Open Secrets, a project from the Center for Responsive Politics.
“The attack on the U.S. Capitol last week was abhorrent and we condemn those who perpetrated, participated in, and encouraged the violent attempts to disrupt our nation’s peaceful transition of power,” a spokesperson for Zillow told Inman. “The ZG PAC has taken steps to update our governing principles, deciding to withhold support from those who advocated for overturning the results of the presidential election.”
ZG PAC was not exactly a big spender during the 2020 election cycle but does have more than $96,000 on hand to support candidates in upcoming races, according to Open Secrets.
The National Association of Realtors PAC (RPAC), meanwhile, was the third biggest financial supporter of the so-called sedition caucus, doling out more than $1.2 million to the group of lawmakers. The only organizations that have given more to those candidates are The American Bankers Association and the party’s own House Majority PAC.
NAR confirmed to Inman last week that it would be making no changes to how it chooses which candidates will be on the receiving end of Realtors’ donations.
“All RPAC Federal Disbursement decisions are made in accordance with requests from state associations and approved by state trustees,” a spokesperson for NAR said in a statement. “Decisions regarding our involvement in the 2022 federal elections will be made by following the same procedures and considering a multitude of factors impacting our nation and its real estate sector.”
Realogy, which also donated to a handful of lawmakers that objected to the election certification, declined to comment last week when asked if it would support those lawmakers in the future.
Rocket Mortgage also joined a handful of companies this week in announcing it would pause all contributions and reevaluate its giving going forward.
