How we choose.

We believe that a relatively small percentage of legislators drive extreme positions on critical issues — positions that are out of alignment with the majority of Americans and that impede or completely block the progress many of us would like to see on these issues. Our methodology is based on identifying these legislators, and their sources of funding.

First. We identify the legislators driving the most extreme positions based on their legislative records, ratings and funding from advocacy groups, and their public statements and pronouncements.

Next. We pinpoint companies providing the greatest amount of direct support to these legislators through corporate PACs, using sources like FEC.gov, Open Secrets, and others. Donations from individual employees or employee matching programs are excluded to hone the focus specifically on direct contributions from the companies’ PACs. Data included from these sources is from 2022 forward.

Where possible. We identify and recommend alternative companies or brands that are NOT supporting these extreme positions, using the same research and evaluation methodology.

Our visual guide. Companies in red are consistently among the largest direct donors to identified legislators; companies in yellow have contributed to some of the identified legislators but at significantly lower amounts/frequency; and companies in green have not donated directly to these legislators since 2022.