A recent boycott launched by Parkland gun control activist David Hogg successfully pressured a Florida-based grocery store chain to halt its political donations to NRA-backed politicians, but his pressure tactics had an unexpected side effect: the company has decided to end all political contributions, including to Democratic politicians that oppose the NRA.
Publix, the grocery store chain, had donated heavily to Republican Adam Putnam, who is a staunch NRA supporter, but the chain also donated to at least two dozen candidates for federal office who opposed the NRA. The Washington Times reports that the company has given over $760,000 to Democratic candidates since 2008 that oppose the NRA:
They include multiple members of the Black Congressional Caucus, former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Patty Murray of Washington, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Ron Wyden of Oregon…
…[they] also chipped in for presidential candidates former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernard Sanders in 2016, as well as then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008.
Florida Today, which is part of the USA Today Network, reported that one of the biggest winners to come out of Hogg’s boycott is Putnam — the very candidate that he sought to destroy:
It’s hard to calculate the media exposure, statewide and nationally, that came his campaign’s way. If you didn’t know anything about him before, you probably know more about him now. If anything else, out of allegiance to Publix, Putnam’s campaign likely will be goosed some because of the controversy.
The newspaper also listed that one of the biggest losers to come out of Hogg’s boycott is anyone who is running against Putnam, including other Republicans, because of the amount of media exposure he has received.
This is not the first time that a Hogg-lead boycott has backfired.
Hogg launched a boycott of Fox News host Laura Ingraham after she tweeted a mild criticism of him, getting multiple sponsors to drop her program before her ratings exploded by 20% and operations appeared to return to normal.
Hogg’s infamous comments about the NRA and Republicans being “child murderers” also led to a surge in donations to the gun rights group; their donations tripled in February and then broke all-time records in March.