About
Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has represented Missouri’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2001. He ran for reelection in 2022 with Trump’s endorsement and won in his heavily Republican district.
Prior to being elected to Congress, Graves served in the Missouri general assembly from 1992–2000, first as a state representative and then as senator, and was a member of the secretive, corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
After the 2020 presidential election, Graves helped spread the Big Lie by casting doubt on the legitimacy of the process. He objected to certifying Biden’s Electoral College win and voted against both impeaching Trump for inciting the insurrection and establishing a special House committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol, among other measures.
Like so many of his GOP colleagues in Congress who support the Big Lie, Graves has benefited financially since the insurrection and his response to it, garnering the fifth largest amount of corporate donations to House members running for reelection in 2022.
January 6, 2021
- Just hours after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, Graves joined 146 other congressional Republicans in refusing to certify Biden’s win of the 2020 presidential election.
- Graves voted against impeaching Trump for his role in instigating the attack on the Capitol and fanning the flames once the riot broke out. (He also supported Trump during his first impeachment in 2019.) In a statement justifying his vote, he wrote: “Speaker Pelosi’s politically-motivated impeachment only further divides a country in need of healing. We shouldn’t be wasting millions of tax dollars on a last-minute snap impeachment that won’t even be finished before President Trump leaves office.”
- Graves voted against creating a House select committee to investigate the assault on the Capitol.
- Graves voted against holding Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress when the former Trump advisor refused to cooperate with the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. And he held to the party line in voting against holding former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress on the same charge.
- Despite his professed concerns about election integrity and adherence to the Constitution, in September 2022 Graves joined all but nine House Republicans in voting against the Presidential Election Reform Act meant to ensure the peaceful transition of power from one presidential administration to the next.
The Big Lie
- On Nov. 6, 2020, Graves tweeted: “I stand with President Trump. Every legal vote must be counted in complete transparency. The American people deserve free and fair elections.”
- On Dec. 10, 2020, Graves signed an amicus brief in a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the presidential election in four swing states: Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Top contributors for the 2024 election cycle.
The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families.
| Organization Name | Total | PACs | Individuals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herzog Contracting | $41,800.00 | $5,000.00 | $36,800.00 |
| Delta Air Lines | $41,700.00 | $5,000.00 | $36,700.00 |
| Southwest Airlines | $31,499.00 | $4,999.00 | $26,500.00 |
| Transportation America | $26,400.00 | $0.00 | $26,400.00 |
| Hardy Holding Group | $16,600.00 | $0.00 | $16,600.00 |
| Carnival Cruise Lines | $13,200.00 | $0.00 | $13,200.00 |
| Lsn Partners | $13,200.00 | $0.00 | $13,200.00 |
| American Airlines | $12,000.00 | $9,000.00 | $3,000.00 |
| CRH Americas | $12,000.00 | $10,000.00 | $2,000.00 |
| Olin Corp | $11,000.00 | $5,000.00 | $6,000.00 |