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China-Owned EV Maker Showered Dems With Campaign Cash

Charlie Kirk Staff

07/21/2024

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China-Owned EV Maker Showered Dems With Campaign Cash

The U.S. branch of a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer and its top executive have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to Democrats in recent years.

Stella Li, a senior executive at BYD Americas, along with the corporation, has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates and groups across California and other states over the last ten years, as revealed by a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of federal and state political expenditure documents. Based in China, BYD is the leading manufacturer of electric vehicles globally, and in January, Congress took action to prohibit the Department of Defense from purchasing its batteries citing national security concerns, as reported by Bloomberg News.

For instance, BYD and Li contributed over $40,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2020 to 2023, as per the DCNF’s analysis of political expenditure documents. Additionally, the company and Li have invested over $30,000 in groups supporting President Joe Biden’s campaign for re-election in 2024 so far, the report said.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom received approximately $60,000 in donations from Li and BYD USA from 2018 to 2023. His government faced criticism for awarding BYD a $1 billion no-compete contract to provide protective gear amid the coronavirus crisis, even though BYD’s main area of expertise was in a different sector. Additionally, Newsom publicly drove a BYD vehicle on a test drive during a 2023 visit to mainland China.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa received over $10,000 from Mr. Li to support his unsuccessful 2018 gubernatorial campaign. Additionally, the California Democratic Party received around $19,000 from Mr. Li and BYD USA between 2018 and 2020, as revealed by the DCNF’s review of campaign records.

“Michael Anotovich, former Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and an architect of California’s bullet train project, received more than $11,000 from BYD USA and its executives in 2015 and 2016 to help his political career, according to the DCNF’s review of political spending records,” the outlet reported. “Anotovich often governed in ways that benefited BYD, such as when he, along with Villaraigosa, steered millions of dollars from a Los Angeles municipal clean bus testing program toward BYD, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2018.”

Moreover, BYD USA contributed $25,000 to a 501(c)(4) group named California For Safe, Reliable Infrastructure in 2018, as the DCNF’s examination of documents revealed. California For Safe, Reliable Infrastructure was a group that was against the unsuccessful Proposition 6 in 2018, which aimed to repeal a 12-cent per-gallon tax on gasoline that had been implemented the year before and mandated that any future tax or fee increases on gasoline needed to be approved by voters.

The report noted that several more Democrats, many of them in California, also received money from Li and the Chinese company.

BYD is one of the biggest EV manufacturers in the world, though its Americas subsidiary focuses specifically on electric trucks, forklifts, and buses, according to its website.

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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.

Charlie is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast, which regularly ranks among the top-10 news shows on Apple podcast news charts, and is the host of the nationally syndicated daily radio show on the Salem Radio Network live from 12 - 3 PM ET.
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