Progressive was founded in 1937 by two Cleveland lawyers, Joseph Lewis and Jack Green, who named their new auto insurer for its forward looking approach to pricing and claims, not for any political movement.[1][2] For most of the company's modern history it was chaired by Joseph Lewis's son, Peter B. Lewis, who ran Progressive from 1965 to 2000 and became one of the largest funders of Democratic and liberal causes in the country.[3] The company he built, now one of the two largest auto insurers in the United States, runs no corporate political action committee and reports no direct federal lobbying of its own.[4][5] That gap, between a founder who spent tens of millions on politics and a company that keeps a deliberately small federal footprint, is the most interesting thing about Progressive's political profile.
- Progressive's founder became a top Democratic mega-donor, yet the company keeps a quiet political footprint.
- It runs no corporate PAC and reports no direct federal lobbying, unusual for its size.
- At its 2022 shareholder meeting, Progressive's CEO publicly defended its diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
- Employees who list Progressive as employer have given roughly 82 to 88 percent to Democrats.
- In 2026 Progressive overtook State Farm as the largest US private auto insurer.
Quick Take
Progressive's federal political record is unusually quiet for a company its size: OpenSecrets shows no corporate PAC contributions in any cycle back to 1990 and no direct federal lobbying by the company itself.[4][5] The company's own policy, last amended in December 2023, says that as a general rule Progressive funds are not used for federal election contributions and that it will generally not make independent expenditures or electioneering communications, framing whatever political money it does spend as a business decision made without regard to the private political views of its officers.[6] The giving that OpenSecrets does capture, individual donations from people who list Progressive as their employer, has leaned heavily Democratic in recent cycles.[4] Its own semiannual reports, though, show a corporation that spends real money at the state level and through insurance trade associations, split across both parties.[8][9] The loudest political chapter belongs to the late Peter B. Lewis, whose personal donations to the ACLU, to Democratic 527 groups, and to marijuana legalization made him a nationally known liberal donor, though he left management in 2000 and died in 2013.[3][7]
The Federal Footprint Almost Nobody Has
Most large corporations run a federal PAC and hire lobbyists. Progressive does neither, at least not in any way the federal record captures. OpenSecrets, which aggregates federal campaign money under an organization's name, shows zero dollars in PAC contributions for Progressive in every two year cycle going back to 1990; the money that does appear comes from individual employees and, in older years, soft money, not from a company PAC.[4] On lobbying, the OpenSecrets profile is blunt: Progressive Corp has not reported lobbying the federal government, a line that covers the full period from 1998 through 2024; what lobbying the company does fund runs indirectly, through the insurance trade associations detailed below.[5]
That does not mean the company gives nothing. Counting individual donations from people who report Progressive as their employer, aggregated federal giving was about 5,069 dollars in the 2024 cycle, roughly 82 percent of it to Democrats.[4] The pattern is consistent further back: about 59,000 dollars in the 2020 cycle (around 88 percent to Democrats) and about 111,000 dollars in the 2016 cycle (almost entirely to Democrats).[4] These are small sums for a company this size, and they reflect the choices of individual employees rather than a corporate program. Naming the subset matters here, because this is employee money, not company treasury money.
What Progressive's Own Policy Says
Progressive publishes a Policy Statement on Political Contributions, Trade Groups and Lobbying, last amended December 1, 2023, and it explains the quiet federal record.[6] The policy states that, as a general rule, Progressive funds should not be used for contributions related to a United States federal election, and that the company will generally not make direct independent expenditures or pay for electioneering communications in federal campaigns without the express approval of the chief executive officer.[6] Any political spending, the policy says, must serve the long term business interests of Progressive and is made without regard to the private political preferences of Progressive officers.[6]
The same policy is candid that Progressive does engage politically, just mostly below the federal level. Its insurance companies are regulated by every state in which they operate, so the board authorizes membership dues to national and state insurance trade associations, contributions to state and local candidates, parties, and ballot measures, and lobbying tied to legislation or ballot initiatives that affect the business.[6] Progressive says it discloses on its website, twice a year, any such payment that exceeds 50,000 dollars, including the share of trade association dues that may be used for political purposes.[6] In other words, the blank space in the federal data is partly by design: the company's political energy, where it spends it, runs through statehouses and industry groups rather than federal candidates.
Where the Money Actually Goes
The twice a year reports put numbers to that. In them, Progressive's political spending, almost invisible in the federal candidate and lobbying data, turns out to be real and concentrated in the states and in industry groups.[8][9][10]
Its direct corporate contributions to state candidates are small and cross party lines. In the first half of 2025 Progressive gave 5,000 dollars to Friends For Kathy Hochul, the New York governor, along with 1,000 dollars to a New York assembly campaign and 750 dollars to a New York state senator, all Democrats.[8] In the second half of the year it gave 500 dollars to a New Mexico Democrat and, in Louisiana, 2,500 dollars across two payments to a Republican state senator and 1,500 dollars to a Republican state representative.[9] These went to the state legislators and governors who write and oversee insurance rules, and across the year the money reached both parties.
The larger sums go to insurance trade associations. In each half of 2025 Progressive paid the American Property Casualty Insurance Association about 1.4 to 1.5 million dollars, with the association reporting that 35 to 46 percent of those dues may be used for lobbying and political activity.[8][9] Progressive also paid 350,000 dollars to the Business Roundtable in early 2025, 45 percent of it flagged as lobbying, plus dues to state insurance federations in California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and other states.[8][9] This is where the company's lobbying actually happens: not as a registered federal filer, but through the trade groups it funds.
The reports also capture ballot measure and issue spending. In the second half of 2024 Progressive gave 100,000 dollars to Defeat the Costly Tax on Sales, an Oregon committee that opposed a state ballot measure, with the entire amount reported as political or lobbying expenditure.[10] Publishing recipients and amounts at this level of detail is itself a governance choice, since many large companies disclose far less about where their non-federal political money goes.
The Founder Who Became a Democratic Mega-Donor
The person who put Progressive into political headlines was never the company itself. Peter B. Lewis, son of co-founder Joseph Lewis, took over in 1965 and built Progressive into a national carrier before stepping down as chief executive in 2000; he stayed on as chairman until his death in November 2013.[3][11] Away from the business, Lewis was one of the country's most prominent liberal donors. He gave the ACLU 7 million dollars in 2001 and 8 million dollars in 2003, and the organization later named its Washington headquarters building for him.[7][12] In the 2004 election cycle he was among the largest funders of Democratic aligned 527 groups such as America Coming Together and MoveOn, often on the condition that George Soros match his gifts.[3][12] OpenSecrets records giving associated with Lewis and Progressive that tops 26 million dollars across all cycles, the great majority of it his personal soft money rather than any company PAC.[4]
Lewis was also the leading financial backer of marijuana legalization in the United States, becoming the largest donor to the Marijuana Policy Project, including 3 million dollars in 2007, and he was himself arrested for marijuana possession in New Zealand in 2000.[13] He signed the Giving Pledge in 2012 and gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Princeton University, Case Western Reserve, and the Guggenheim.[11][13]
Because Lewis is so closely identified with Progressive, a chain email urging people to boycott the company over his politics has circulated since 2010. Snopes, reviewing it, confirmed the underlying donations were real but rated the boycott pitch woefully out of date, noting that Lewis stepped down as chief executive in 2000 and died in 2013, so his personal giving says nothing about how the company operates today.[14] Progressive's own policy makes the same point in governance language: its political decisions are meant to be made for business reasons, not to reflect any officer's personal politics.[6]
Diversity, and a Shareholder Meeting Standoff
Where Progressive as a company has taken a visible public position is on workplace diversity. At its 2022 annual shareholder meeting, an activist from the National Center for Public Policy Research pressed chief executive Tricia Griffith on why the company weighed characteristics such as race and sex in hiring. Griffith defended the practice, saying Progressive needed a workforce that reflected the customers it serves and that diversity, equity and inclusion was both important to the company's growth and the right thing to do.[15] The exchange was covered as one of that season's higher profile corporate diversity confrontations.
The commitment shows up in company filings as well. Progressive's 2023 proxy statement described diversity and inclusion job objectives for its executives and managers and an annual company wide diversity and inclusion event.[16] As of 2026, with Griffith still president and chief executive, Progressive continues to foreground what it calls a people first culture. That year it ranked No. 1 on Forbes' America's Best Employers for Company Culture list, out of 600 employers, and No. 19 on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For, the highest ranked insurer on the Fortune list and its ninth consecutive year on it.[17][18]
What They Sell and Where to Find Them
Progressive sells personal auto insurance, its core product, along with home, renters, motorcycle, boat, recreational vehicle, pet, and commercial auto coverage.[1] It reaches customers both directly, at progressive.com, by phone, and through its mobile app, and through a large network of independent agents, and its long running advertising built around the character Flo has made it one of the most recognized insurance brands in the country. In 2024 the company reported total revenues of 75.37 billion dollars and net income of 8.48 billion dollars.[19] By early 2026 it had overtaken State Farm to become the largest private passenger auto insurer in the United States on a trailing 12-month basis, by S&P Global Market Intelligence's estimate, the first change at the top of that ranking since 1942.[20] Its operations are essentially domestic, and its documented political activity runs through state candidates, ballot measure campaigns, and insurance trade associations rather than federal elections. The legal parent is The Progressive Corporation, headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PGR.[19]
Footnotes
[1] The Progressive Corporation, 'Our History,' accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.progressive.com/about/history/
[2] Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University, 'Progressive Corp.,' accessed August 18, 2026. https://case.edu/ech/articles/p/progressive-corp
[3] The Washington Post, 'How liberal mega-donor Peter Lewis left his mark on politics,' November 25, 2013. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/11/25/how-liberal-mega-donor-peter-lewis-left-his-mark-on-politics/
[4] OpenSecrets, 'Progressive Corp Profile: Totals,' accessed August 19, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/progressive-corp/totals?id=D000036842
[5] OpenSecrets, 'Progressive Corp Profile: Lobbying,' accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/progressive-corp/lobbying?id=D000036842
[6] The Progressive Corporation, 'Policy Statement on Political Contributions, Trade Groups and Lobbying,' last amended December 1, 2023. https://s202.q4cdn.com/605347829/files/doc_downloads/oid/policy-statement-on-political-contributions-trade-groups-and-lobbying_12-23.pdf
[7] ACLU of Ohio, 'Peter B. Lewis 1933-2013,' accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.acluohio.org/about-us/history/memory-tributes-past-civil-liberties-leaders/peter-b-lewis-1933-2013/
[8] The Progressive Corporation, 'Reporting of Jan-Jun 2025 Political Expenditures,' accessed August 19, 2026. https://s202.q4cdn.com/605347829/files/doc_downloads/2025/10/2025-Report-on-Political-Expenditures-Jan-Jun.pdf
[9] The Progressive Corporation, 'Reporting of Jul-Dec 2025 Political Expenditures,' accessed August 19, 2026. https://s202.q4cdn.com/605347829/files/doc_downloads/oid/2026/2025-Report-on-Political-Expenditures-Jul-Dec.pdf
[10] The Progressive Corporation, 'Reporting of Jul-Dec 2024 Political Expenditures,' accessed August 19, 2026. https://s202.q4cdn.com/605347829/files/doc_downloads/2025/2024-Report-on-Political-Expenditures-Jul-Dec.pdf
[11] Wikipedia, 'Peter B. Lewis,' accessed August 18, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_B._Lewis
[12] Saranac Hale Spencer, FactCheck.org, 'Meme Politicizes Progressive Insurance,' December 17, 2019. https://www.factcheck.org/2019/12/meme-politicizes-progressive-insurance/
[13] Scott Kersgaard, Insurance Business, 'Progressive executive's legacy to help fund push to legalize marijuana,' November 12, 2015. https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/progressive-executives-legacy-to-help-fund-push-to-legalize-marijuana-26547.aspx
[14] Snopes, 'Does the Owner of Progressive Insurance Donate Millions to the ACLU?,' September 8, 2010. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/progressive-donations-lewis/
[15] Jen Frost, Insurance Business, 'CEO steps in as Progressive slammed for woke hiring practices,' May 17, 2022. https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/ceo-steps-in-as-progressive-slammed-for-woke-hiring-practices-406351.aspx
[16] The Progressive Corporation, 2023 Proxy Statement (Form DEF 14A), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 2023. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/80661/000008066123000017/pgr-20230327.htm
[17] The Progressive Corporation, 'Progressive Insurance Ranks No. 1 on Forbes America's Best Employers for Company Culture 2026 List,' PR Newswire, April 21, 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/progressive-insurance-ranks-no-1-on-forbes-americas-best-employers-for-company-culture-2026-list-302748944.html
[18] The Progressive Corporation, 'Progressive Insurance Ranks #19 on Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2026 List,' April 1, 2026. https://progressive.mediaroom.com/2026-04-01-Progressive-Insurance-R-Ranks-19-on-Fortune-100-Best-Companies-to-Work-For-R-2026-List
[19] The Progressive Corporation, 2024 Form 10-K, Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/80661/000008066125000007/pgr-20241231_d2.htm
[20] Husain Rupawala, Jason Woleben and Tim Zawacki, S&P Global Market Intelligence, 'Progressive now No. 1 US private auto insurer for full 12 months, estimates show,' May 28, 2026. https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/research/2026/05/progressive-now-no-1-us-private-auto-insurer-for-full-12-months-estimates-show
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