While Republican Rep. Tom Barrett has been actively working to distance himself from President Donald Trump and the administration’s unpopular war in Iran, defense industry PACs and executives have poured more than $58,000 into Republican Rep. Tom Barrett’s bid for reelection in Michigan’s 7th district. He has also been on the happy end of at least a million dollars in super PAC support from Trump.
Barrett broke with Trump over the Iran war in May after he repeatedly voted to support the war. In April, he cast a tie-breaking vote to defeat a war powers resolution aimed at ending it. The measure failed 214-213.
Of the nearly $60,000 Barrett has received directly from the defense industry, $38,000 has come from defense contractors like Oracle, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton and General Dynamics. The congressman notably received $10,000 from Oshkosh Corporation, a military vehicles and systems manufacturer, and $7,000 from SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace giant, which provides the Department of War with missile tracking and launch services and satellite communications.
But Barrett, set to face off against Democratic challenger Will Lawrence in November, has also received significant donations from defense industry CEOs individually. Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar donated $7,000 to the Republican incumbent’s campaign, while Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey donated $5,500 and General Atomics CEO Neal Blue chipped in a humble $4,996 of his own fortune.
The financial support from corporations profiting massively throughout the Iran War has not stopped the congressman from switching to vote in favor of Iran WPRs, joining Democrats and a few Republicans on all four introduced since the middle of May.
Barrett has also made a concerted rhetorical attempt as of late to highlight distance between his purported position on the war and the president’s. He has said, for instance, that the U.S. “cannot be dragged into another endless war” and that, “There’s a growing number of members that are having concerns about the growing nature of this without any congressional authorization.” He has also called for “clearly defined” missions and end dates for the conflict.
Nevertheless, Barrett accepted defense industry contributions as recently as the last week of June, after a number of these comments were made and votes were cast.
Approached for comment on whether Barrett’s relationship with defense contractors and industry executives could inhibit his ability to materially oppose the Iran War in the next Congress, a spokesperson dismissed the premise out of hand.
“One has nothing to do with the other,” Jason Roe, a Barrett spokesperson, said.
