Home Depot did not donate directly to Herschel Walker’s campaign

The Home Depot is without doubt one of the largest dwelling enchancment retailers on the planet. The firm was based in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. Since its founding, Home Depot has grown to make use of practically 500,000 folks at greater than 2,300 shops throughout North America. 

In early October, several Twitter accounts started calling for a boycott of Home Depot shops after posts claimed that the retailer had donated $1.75 million to Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign. Walker is working towards incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. 

Did Home Depot donate $1.75 million directly to Herschel Walker’s campaign?

No, Home Depot did not donate $1.75 million directly to Herschel Walker’s campaign. 

FEC filings present Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, who left the corporate greater than 20 years in the past, made two donations totaling $1.75 million to Walker’s campaign in 2021 and 2022. There aren’t any reported donations to Walker’s campaign from Home Depot or The Home Depot PAC on the FEC’s web site. 

Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show Herschel Walker’s campaign acquired two donations totaling $1.75 million from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus by means of a brilliant PAC referred to as 34N22 in 2021 and 2022. Marcus, who not works for the corporate, retired as chairman in 2002. 

In an e-mail, a Home Depot spokesperson advised VERIFY that whereas the corporate “supports candidates and organizations on both sides of the aisle,” it had not donated to Walker or Warnock’s campaigns. Home Depot additionally addressed the claims on Twitter, telling folks Marcus contributed to the Walker campaign, not the corporate.  

“Our co-founder Bernie Marcus left Home Depot more than 20 years ago, and his views do not represent the company,” the spokesperson stated.

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While Home Depot did not donate directly to Walker’s campaign, VERIFY discovered that the corporate did contribute $90,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in 2021 and 2022, in accordance to the FEC and OpenSecrets.org. The NRSC is a nationwide group “solely devoted to strengthening the Republican Senate Majority and electing Republicans to the United States Senate,” its web site says. 

In early October, Politico reported that the NRSC had introduced that it was splitting a brand new $8.5 million advert purchase with the Walker campaign. The NRSC has additionally promoted a few Walker’s ads on its web site previously. It has additionally made ads towards Warnock.

In addition to donating cash to NRSC, FEC filings show The Home Depot PAC additionally contributed 1000’s of {dollars} to a number of Democratic candidates and committees throughout the nation, together with the Georgia Senate Democratic Caucus in June 2022. Click right here to evaluation Home Depot PAC’s donations on the FEC web site. 

VERIFY reached out to the Walker campaign and the NRSC for remark however did not hear again by the point of publication. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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