Akin Loses Support of His Biggest Contributor
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), who's under pressure to resign for saying women's bodies can fend off pregnancy in the case of a "legitimate rape," lost the support of his biggest contributor, Emerson Electric(EMR) .
The manufacturing and technology company, based in St. Louis, part of Akin's district, dropped its endorsement of the embattled U.S. Senate candidate. Other large publicly traded companies were less clear on where they stood.
"We backed Todd Akin as a candidate who would help restore the U.S. economy. Given his recent comments, we no longer support his candidacy," Mark Polzin, Emerson's spokesman, said in an email correspondence.
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The company's political action committee donated the maximum $10,000 that went toward Akin's 2012 Senate run, while Emerson employees have donated another $26,200, according to opensecrets.org.
David Farr, who has been CEO for 12 years, has personally donated the maximum of $5,000 to Akin's campaign -- $2,500 for the Republican primary and $2,500 for the general election.
Including Akin's Senate race, the Emerson Electric Co. Responsible Government Fund (the full official name of the PAC) has contributed a total of about $29,000 to Akin through all his House campaigns, which included six successful campaigns from 2000 through 2010. The PAC has contributed to Democrats and Republicans, according to FEC records that date back to 1997.
Other large companies also have donated the maximum $10,000 to Akin's campaign, but have stopped short of denouncing him.
Those companies include defense contractor Northrop Grumman(NOC) , aerospace company Boeing(BA) , beer brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev(BUD) , diversified industrial group Honeywell International(HON) and defense company General Dynamics(GD) , among others.
"He's been a strong supporter of national defense, and that has been the reason that we have supported him in the past," said Rob Doolittle, a spokesman for General Dynamics. "Regarding future contributions, we would certainly take his recent comments into consideration before we provided any additional support."