A watchdog group launched an advertising campaign on Wednesday to urge major corporations to end their membership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over lobbying against voting rights legislation.


The group, Accountable.US, noted that the Chamber lobbied against the For the People Act, which is the Democrats’ sweeping voting rights legislation that has passed the House and is stalled in the Senate.

The “Drop the Chamber” six-figure campaign starts this week with digital ads on Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and other sites, targeting employees of Microsoft, Target and Salesforce.Accountable.US, which will direct people to DropTheChamber.org, is targeting these companies first because they have spoken out publicly about voting rights issues.

“These corporations are sitting on their hands in the face of a widespread assault on our democracy and ignoring the Chamber’s opposition to major legislation to protect an essential constitutional right. In doing so, they are violating their well-publicized commitment to protecting voting rights and siding against millions of Americans who will be subject to these racist voter suppression laws,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said in a statement.

Accountable.US is also sending letters to CEOs questioning their membership at the Chamber after they signed onto a two-page ad in the New York Times in April to oppose legislation introduced in various states to tighten voting restrictions.

“While the Chamber likes to excuse its attacks on the fundamental right to vote under the guise of ‘free speech,’ there is no denying this effort is racially charged and designed to disenfranchise people of color, motivated by a cynical and misguided belief that it will benefit the business community. Their efforts should not be rewarded financially and reputationally by companies like yours who claim to hold different values,” Herrig wrote in the letters.Accountable.US last month urged eight major companies, including Disney, Google and Pfizer, to sever ties with the Chamber over their stance on donating to Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College results.

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