Loews Hotels says it won’t host a fund-raiser with Senator Josh Hawley.
Loews Hotels said on Saturday that it would not host a fund-raiser with Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, the latest indication that many companies are distancing themselves from Republicans who voted to overturn the election results.
Fighting for Missouri, a political action committee affiliated with Mr. Hawley, had planned to host a “fun-filled, family-friendly Orlando weekend event” with the senator at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando, Fla., from Feb. 12 to Feb. 15, according to an invitation for the event. Tickets were being sold for $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the size of the group.
But Loews said that the fund-raiser had been called off after the deadly riot on the Capitol, which many Democrats and Republicans have blamed in part on Mr. Hawley and other members of his party who supported President Trump’s efforts to stop the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.
“We are horrified and opposed to the events at the Capitol and all who supported and incited the actions,” the company said on Twitter. “In light of those events and for the safety of our guests and team members, we have informed the host of the Feb. fund-raiser that it will no longer be held at Loews Hotels.”
Mr. Hawley sharply criticized the decision by Loews, which was established in 1960 and owns or operates 26 properties in the United States and Canada.
“If these corporations don’t want conservatives to speak, they should just be honest about it,” he said in a statement. “But to equate leading a debate on the floor of the Senate with inciting violence is a lie, and it’s dangerous. I will not be deterred from representing my constituents, and I will not bow to left-wing corporate pressure.”
Mr. Hawley persisted in his challenge to the election results even after the mob was cleared out of the Capitol last week, forcing the House and Senate into two hours of debate over Pennsylvania’s electoral votes even though he never made a specific charge of wrongdoing.
The rejection by Loews came after Simon & Schuster said that it would cancel the publication of an upcoming book by Mr. Hawley, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” which had been scheduled to be published in June.
Simon & Schuster said that it had made the decision because “we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat.”
Mr. Hawley had said the cancellation “could not be more Orwellian,” and added, “We’ll see you in court.”
In recent days, a flurry of companies have suspended donations to some of the Republicans who voted to block the certification of the Electoral College results.
Morgan Stanley said it was suspending all PAC contributions to members of Congress who did not vote to certify the results. Marriott said it would pause donations from its PAC “to those who voted against certification of the election.” And the chemicals giant Dow said it was suspending all PAC contributions “to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the presidential election.”
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