Say What Now? Nike Is Donating More Money to Keep Republicans in Control of Congress, Despite Progressive 'Just Do It' Campaign

Nothing made us happier than to see Nike’s powerful ‘Just Do It’ 30th anniversary campaign starring Colin Kaepernick, but it appears as though the company isn’t as progressive as we’ve been made to believe.

According to research and public record, Nike is actually donating more money to keep Republicans in control of Congress in the 2018 elections.

via Medium:

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in the 2018 campaign cycle, Nike employees and its political action committee contributed a total of $424,600 to Republicans and $122,400 to Democrats in Congress. 78 percent of Nike contributions went to Republicans and 22 percent to Democrats.

In 2018, the bulk of Nike money went to two major Republican campaign efforts: $189,600 to the National Republican Congressional Committee and $123,100 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. (2016 marked a brief deviation from a longstanding pro-Republican trend for Nike contributors.)

Nike also donated a small $20,922 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Graphic from Center for Responsive Politics

If there’s any doubt about what these two Republican committees are trying to do, the homepage for the National Republican Congressional Committee reads:

We defend your conservative values by protecting our Republican majority in the House of Representatives. Your support is more important than ever as we look toward the 2018 midterm elections. Stand with us and defend your conservative majority in Congress.

While the homepage of the National Republican Senatorial Committee reads:

The NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) is the only national organization solely devoted to strengthening the Republican Senate Majority and electing Republicans to the United States Senate.

Though Nike did contribute to both Democratic and Republican parties, when you look at the company’s overall agenda Nike is spending way more money to make sure Republicans retain control of Congress. It is worth noting, however, that 32% of Nike campaign dollars went directly to individual officeholders instead of the above campaign committees.

We’re not here to make any judgements on whether or not you should throw your blind support behind Nike — or any company. We just came across this tidbit of political tea and decided to pass it along. #TheMoreYouKnow