ExxonMobil Corporation is the largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the United States by revenue, headquartered in Spring, Texas, and one of the corporate descendants of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. It produces, refines, and markets crude oil, natural gas, gasoline, and petrochemicals at global scale, sells US retail fuels under the Exxon and Mobil brands (with the Esso brand used primarily in international markets), and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker XOM. The company is among the most politically prominent in the energy sector, both in its lobbying footprint and as a recurring target of activist investor campaigns from across the political spectrum.
- ExxonMobil PAC contributions to federal candidates skewed approximately 73 percent Republican to 27 percent Democrat in the 2024 cycle.
- The company's separate PAC-to-PAC and party committee giving has historically run closer to 87 percent Republican.
- State-level corporate giving in oil-producing states has tilted toward Republican-aligned candidates and committees.
- ExxonMobil has been a recurring target of conservative shareholder activism from firms like Strive Asset Management and Bowyer Research.
- Conservative pressure has pushed the company to step further back from ESG-aligned policy commitments.
Quick Take
ExxonMobil's federal PAC has shifted noticeably across the last two presidential cycles. In the 2020 cycle, federal-candidate giving from the Exxon PAC ran approximately 78 percent Republican to 22 percent Democrat per OpenSecrets, with broader cycle reporting (including party committees and PAC-to-PAC giving) showing the company hedging more substantially toward Democrats during that Biden-leading polling environment — Marketplace and Electrek both reported approximately 41 percent of all 2020 cycle contributions going to Democratic recipients. By the 2024 cycle the PAC's federal-candidate split was approximately 73 percent Republican to 27 percent Democrat, with separate PAC-to-PAC and party committee giving running closer to 87 percent Republican. As a federal contractor, the company is barred from federal corporate treasury contributions, but its 2024 state-level corporate giving included $310,000 to national organizations of state officials and over $230,000 to 179 state-level candidates and committees in two states. CEO Darren Woods publicly endorsed the Paris Climate Agreement and urged both Trump administrations not to withdraw, and the company has been targeted by conservative shareholder activists (Strive, Bowyer Research, Bahnsen Family Trust) for being too aligned with green policy.
Public Political Activity
According to OpenSecrets data, ExxonMobil-affiliated contributions in the 2024 election cycle totaled approximately $1.89 million across PAC, individual, and state-level corporate giving, with federal lobbying expenditures of approximately $6.82 million.[1] As a federal contractor, ExxonMobil is barred by law from using corporate treasury funds to support federal candidates, national political parties, or super PACs. The company has publicly stated that it does not use treasury or political action committee funds for direct independent political expenditures or electioneering communications at the federal level.[2]
The ExxonMobil PAC, funded by voluntary employee and shareholder contributions, disbursed approximately $676,500 to federal and state candidates and committees in 2024.[2] PAC giving across the last two presidential cycles tells a story of meaningful directional shift. In October 2020, with Joe Biden leading in pre-election polling, Marketplace reporting and Electrek's coverage of Center for Responsive Politics data showed Exxon hedging meaningfully toward Democratic recipients, with approximately 41 percent of mid-cycle giving going to Democrats — up from 32.6 percent in 2016. Final 2020 cycle totals settled higher on the Republican side as cycle giving normalized post-election.[3][4] By the 2024 cycle, OpenSecrets data shows the Exxon PAC's federal-candidate giving at approximately 73 percent Republican to 27 percent Democrat — a partial return toward the Republican-leaning pattern but not all the way back to the company's historical levels.[5] The PAC's separate giving to other PACs and party committees runs more heavily Republican still, at approximately 87 percent Republican to 13 percent Democrat per OpenSecrets PAC-to-PAC reporting.[13] The cycle-to-cycle pattern in federal-candidate giving is consistent with broader industry behavior: oil and gas PAC giving traditionally favors Republicans, with hedging spikes toward Democrats correlating with leading-Democrat polling environments.
At the state level, ExxonMobil's corporate giving in 2024 included $310,000 in support of six national political organizations of state officials and over $230,000 in contributions to 179 state-level candidates and two committees in two U.S. states, primarily in oil-producing states.[2] The company maintains a public itemized list of these contributions on its corporate transparency portal, going beyond what is required by federal and state disclosure law.
Public Positions and Statements
ExxonMobil has historically engaged in public political dialogue on energy and climate policy, with recent CEO positions placing the company in a complicated middle position rather than at either ideological pole. CEO Darren Woods has publicly endorsed the Paris Climate Agreement, wrote a personal letter to President Trump in 2017 urging the United States to remain in the accord, and again publicly urged the incoming Trump administration during the post-election transition in November 2024 not to withdraw.[6] At the COP29 UN climate conference, Woods told Bloomberg that Exxon's investments in carbon capture and direct air capture technology depended on the Inflation Reduction Act tax credits remaining in place.[7]
At the same time, Woods has publicly rejected the framework of corporate responsibility for Scope 3 emissions (the greenhouse gases produced by customers burning the company's fuel), compared the demand to "making McDonald's responsible for the weight of their customers."[8] The company has explicitly defended its long-term position in oil and gas as compatible with reducing emissions through technology rather than through divestment.
Investor and Activist Pressure
ExxonMobil has been described in financial press as ground zero for shareholder activism on both sides of the energy and ESG debate.[7] In 2021, the activist investor Engine No. 1 successfully placed three dissident board members at Exxon with the support of major institutional shareholders BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, in what was widely characterized at the time as a watershed moment for ESG-driven shareholder activism. Conservative-aligned investment firms including Strive Asset Management (cofounded by Vivek Ramaswamy) and Bowyer Research have separately filed proxy resolutions and engaged Exxon management on the opposite side of that debate, urging the company to step back from politically-contingent climate investments.[9][10] The Bahnsen Family Trust, working with Bowyer Research, filed a 2023 shareholder proposal requesting that Exxon's board produce a report on the financial and shareholder-value risks of committing to decarbonization — an anti-ESG framing arguing that a forced shift away from oil and gas could harm long-term shareholder returns.[11]
Products and Customer Base
ExxonMobil produces crude oil and natural gas at global scale, refines those products into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and lubricants, and operates a global petrochemicals business that supplies plastics, synthetic rubber, and other industrial chemicals. The company's downstream brands include Exxon and Mobil for US retail fuel stations and Mobil 1 for lubricants, with Esso used as the primary brand in many international markets including Canada and parts of Europe. ExxonMobil-branded service stations operate in 46 US states, with approximately 12,000 retail outlets nationwide.[12] Customers range from individual drivers at retail fuel stations to industrial buyers of feedstock chemicals, government agencies, and military fleets worldwide.
Founding and Ownership
ExxonMobil traces its corporate ancestry to John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, which was broken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911. The two largest descendant companies, Standard Oil of New Jersey (which became Exxon) and Standard Oil of New York (which became Mobil), merged in 1999 to form ExxonMobil Corporation. The company is headquartered in Spring, Texas, and is owned by public shareholders, with the largest institutional holders being BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street.[7] Darren Woods has served as Chairman and CEO since January 2017.
Where to Find Them
ExxonMobil corporate and investor information is available at the corporate website, and consumer-facing information about Exxon and Mobil retail products is available at the Exxon and Mobil website. Exxon- and Mobil-branded fuel and lubricants are sold at approximately 12,000 service stations across the United States and through commercial and industrial channels worldwide.
Footnotes
[1] OpenSecrets.org, "Exxon Mobil Summary," accessed May 2, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/exxon-mobil/summary?id=d000000129
[2] ExxonMobil, "Political Contributions Policy," accessed May 2, 2026. https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/who-we-are/policy/political-contributions
[3] David Brancaccio and Nova Safo, Marketplace, "Oil and gas companies are donating more to Democrats," October 16, 2020. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2020/10/16/oil-gas-companies-election-donations-democrats-biden-chevron-exxon-mobil
[4] Michelle Lewis, Electrek, "Chevron and Exxon boost campaign donations to Democrats," October 19, 2020. https://electrek.co/2020/10/19/chevron-exxon-campaign-donations-democrats/
[5] OpenSecrets.org, "Exxon Mobil PAC Candidate Recipients (2024 cycle)," accessed May 6, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/exxon-mobil/C00121368/candidate-recipients/2024
[6] Akshat Rathi, Kevin Crowley, and Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg, "COP29: Exxon CEO Darren Woods Interview Transcript From UN Climate Summit," November 21, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-11-21/cop29-exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-transcript-from-un-climate-summit
[7] Akshat Rathi, Kevin Crowley, and Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Bloomberg, "COP29: Exxon CEO Darren Woods Interview Transcript From UN Climate Summit," November 21, 2024. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-11-21/cop29-exxon-ceo-darren-woods-interview-transcript-from-un-climate-summit
[8] Kay Bailey Hutchison Energy Center, University of Texas at Austin, "Leadership Under Fire: Lessons from Darren Woods," accessed May 6, 2026. https://kbhenergycenter.utexas.edu/media/leadership-under-fire-lessons-from-darren-woods/
[9] Strive Asset Management, "Letter to Disney" (illustrative of corporate engagement methodology), accessed May 2, 2026. https://strive.com/strive-asset-management-letter-to-disney
[10] Bowyer Research Substack, "The Year Shareholders (Like You) Stepped Up," January 9, 2025. https://bowyerresearch.substack.com/p/the-year-shareholders-like-you-stepped
[11] MarketScreener, "Exxon Mobil Corporation Receives a Shareholder Proposal from Bahnsen Family Trust," April 13, 2023. https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/EXXON-MOBIL-CORPORATION-4822/news/Exxon-Mobil-Corporation-Receives-a-Shareholder-Proposal-from-Bahnsen-Family-Trust-43540680/
[12] ExxonMobil, "Community Engagement and Branded Stations," accessed May 2, 2026. https://www.exxon.com/en/community-engagement
[13] OpenSecrets.org, "Exxon Mobil PAC to PAC/Party Contributions (2024 cycle)," accessed May 6, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/exxon-mobil/C00121368/pac-to-pac/2024
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