Costco Wholesale

Quick Take

Costco reported $0 in federal lobbying in the 2024 cycle. Its last reported federal lobbying expenditure was $70,000 in 2020, and it has filed zero in every cycle since. In January 2025 the board unanimously recommended that shareholders reject an anti-DEI proposal, and shareholders did so by approximately 98 percent — a notable break from peers including Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's, which scaled back DEI under similar pressure. Board chair Tony James personally donated $350,000 to Democratic-aligned PACs in late 2024, and individual contributions reported under the company name have leaned Democratic in both the 2020 and 2024 presidential cycles.

Public Political Activity

Costco maintains a long-standing corporate policy that it does not make corporate political contributions. The company's Political Spending Policy, approved by its Board of Directors in May 2012, prohibits the use of corporate funds to influence the selection, nomination, or election of any candidate to public office.[1] The policy further addresses spending through trade associations and 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations, although Costco continues to participate in industry trade associations that may engage in policy advocacy on issues affecting retail. Costco's customer service page also notes that the company strives to keep its warehouses "devoid of politics" because the majority of members appreciate that environment.[2]

This corporate-level abstention is reflected in OpenSecrets data, which shows Costco reporting $0 in federal lobbying expenditures and $0 in outside spending in the 2024 election cycle.[3] OpenSecrets's lobbying-specific filings page confirms that Costco's last reported federal lobbying expenditure was $70,000 in 2020, and the company has not reported any federal lobbying activity in the cycles since.[4] These figures cover federal disclosed lobbying only, as required by the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and do not capture indirect advocacy through trade association memberships.

The approximately $1.23 million in 2024 cycle "contributions" attributed to Costco on OpenSecrets reflects aggregated reporting of contributions from individual employees and Costco-affiliated executives, not company funds. The pattern across the last two presidential cycles shows individual giving leaning Democratic in both. According to OpenSecrets-derived analysis, the 2022 midterm cycle showed approximately 68 percent of congressional and 69 percent of federal contributions going to Democrats, and reporting on the 2020 cycle showed similar Democratic-leaning aggregated contributions, with the high-dollar individual donations from current board members — described below — running notably more partisan than rank-and-file employee giving.[5]

Multiple current Costco board members and executives made significant individual political donations in the 2024 cycle. According to Fox Business reporting, board chairman Tony James donated $250,000 to the Senate Majority PAC and $100,000 to the House Majority PAC, both Democratic-aligned committees, in late 2024.[6] Sally Jewell, who joined the board in 2020 after serving as Secretary of the Interior in the Obama administration, made 49 contributions in support of Democratic candidates between January 2023 and December 2024. Jeff Raikes, board member and former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, gave more than $400,000 to Democratic candidates and causes in the same period. Of the eleven board members reviewed in that reporting, only one, John Stanton, gave to Republican-aligned PACs.

Public Positions and Statements

In January 2025, Costco's Board of Directors voted unanimously to recommend that shareholders reject a proposal from the National Center for Public Policy Research that called for the company to publish a report on the legal, reputational, and financial risks of maintaining its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.[7] At the company's January 23, 2025 annual meeting, more than 98 percent of votes cast went against the anti-DEI proposal, a result widely covered in financial press as a notable break from peer retailers including Walmart, Tractor Supply, John Deere, Home Depot, Lowe's, and Microsoft, which had each scaled back DEI commitments under similar conservative shareholder pressure.[8]

The Costco board's pre-vote opposition statement was unusually forceful in the corporate context. In its proxy statement, the board described its DEI commitment as "appropriate and necessary," tied diversity directly to the company's code of ethics, and characterized the proposal as concerned "less about Costco's business or shareholders and more about its own political agenda."[9] The vote followed a January 27, 2025 letter from 19 Republican state attorneys general urging Costco to drop its DEI programs.

Products and Customer Base

Costco sells a curated selection of approximately 4,000 SKUs at deep discount through its membership-based warehouse model. Categories include groceries, fresh meat and produce, electronics, apparel, jewelry, furniture, gasoline, pharmacy, optical, hearing aids, and travel services. The company's signature Kirkland Signature private label spans most categories and represents a substantial share of total sales. Customer membership is generally required to shop in-warehouse, with two primary tiers: a standard Gold Star membership and a higher-priced Executive membership that includes a 2 percent annual rebate. Limited exceptions exist, including pharmacy access (where required by law) and certain online purchases available to non-members at higher prices. Members come from across the political spectrum, and the company's stated atmospheric goal of being "devoid of politics" inside warehouses is widely regarded as a deliberate consumer-positioning choice.

Founding and Ownership

Costco was founded in 1983 in Seattle by Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman.[10] Sinegal, who served as CEO until 2012, was a longtime and prominent Democratic donor and hosted President Barack Obama at fundraisers at his Hunt's Point home on Lake Washington in 2012. Sinegal spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte as a corporate voice supporting Obama's reelection.[11] He retired from the Costco board in January 2018 and continues to make personal contributions to Democratic candidates and PACs, including more recent donations to President Joe Biden, U.S. Senate candidate Adam Schiff, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.[12] Brotman served as Costco's chairman until his death in 2017. The company is now publicly held, with Tony James serving as board chair and Ron Vachris as president and CEO.

Where to Find Them

Costco operates 928 warehouses worldwide, including 637 in the United States and Puerto Rico and locations across Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, France, China, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. Online sales are available at Costco.com, with most items available only to active members and a limited subset available to non-members at higher prices. Costco Travel and Costco Pharmacy are additional service offerings, with Pharmacy access available to non-members where required by law.

Footnotes

[1] Costco Wholesale Corporation, "Policy Regarding Spending on Elections and Policy Advocacy," approved by Board of Directors May 2012. https://s201.q4cdn.com/287523651/files/doc_downloads/govdocs/Policy-Regarding-Spending-on-Elections-and-Policy-Advocacy.pdf

[2] Costco Wholesale, "Does Costco Wholesale make political contributions or provide other political support?", customer service page, accessed May 2, 2026. https://customerservice.costco.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/839/~/does-costco-wholesale-make-political-contributions-or-provide-other-political

[3] OpenSecrets.org, "Costco Wholesale Summary," accessed May 2, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/costco-wholesale/summary?id=D000000703

[4] OpenSecrets.org, "Costco Wholesale Lobbying Profile," accessed May 4, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000000703

[5] Vance Cariaga, GOBankingRates via Yahoo Finance, "Who Does Costco Give Political Donations To?", March 22, 2023. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/does-costco-political-donations-150905105.html

[6] Brian Flood, Fox Business, "Costco board members donated hundreds of thousands to Democrats in 2024 cycle," January 29, 2025. https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/costco-board-members-donated-heavily-democrats-2024-election-cycle

[7] Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, "Costco shareholders reject an anti-DEI measure, after Walmart and others end diversity programs," January 25, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costco-dei-policy-board-statement-shareholder-meeting-vote/

[8] Daphne Howland, Retail Dive, "Did Costco just reset the narrative around DEI?", January 3, 2025. https://www.retaildive.com/news/costco-resets-DEI-narrative-rejects-shareholder-proposal/736328/

[9] Reuters via CNBC, "Costco shareholders reject call for review of diversity programs," January 24, 2025. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/24/costco-shareholders-reject-call-for-review-of-diversity-programs.html

[10] Wikipedia, "James Sinegal," accessed May 2, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Sinegal

[11] Sasha Belenky, HuffPost, "Jim Sinegal, Former Costco CEO And DNC Speaker, Explains Why Democrats Love Costco," September 6, 2012. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jim-sinegal-costco-dnc_n_1861203

[12] David Hyde, KUOW, "Former Costco CEO among top donors trying to sway Seattle voters," August 1, 2023. https://www.kuow.org/stories/former-costco-ceo-among-top-donors-trying-to-sway-seattle-voters