Tom Cotton tells Republican workers to challenge firms fighting Georgia election law: ‘Send emails’

Sen. Tom Cotton said Monday he wanted conservative and Republican employees to get vocal and counter liberal activists pressuring corporations to oppose Georgia’s new election law.

The Arkansas Republican said he has encountered many pro-Trump and conservative employees at Delta Airlines, for example, and called for those employees to speak up now.

“I would encourage all of those conservative and Republican employees who work in Delta’s workforce or Coca-Cola’s workforce to be more active themselves,” Mr. Cotton said on CNBC. “You should send emails to your CEO, the way the media reports suggest all of these left-wing employees were doing so. Encourage them to stick to running an airline or selling sugary beverages to Americans.”

Mr. Cotton told CNBC it was not right for “moral corporate hypocrites” to opine on public policy without taking the time to learn about the provisions of the Georgia law.

The new Georgia law requires identification for absentee by-mail voting, reduces the time to request absentee ballots, and gives the state legislature more oversight of election administration by removing the secretary of state as head of the state’s election board and replacing him with a new appointee from the legislature, among other things. 

On Saturday, former President Donald Trump called for Americans to boycott major U.S. companies including Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Major League Baseball and several others because of their opposition to the Georgia law.

Mr. Cotton said Monday he knew the companies’ CEOs did not speak for the entire workforce and warned the companies’ executives away from lobbying Republicans to help them secure tax breaks from President Biden’s agenda.

“I would just note to some of these corporate CEOs who run to Capitol Hill and lobby Republicans privately to protect them from Joe Biden’s tax policies and his regulatory policies that if you want Joe Biden’s election laws you might wind up with Joe Biden’s tax laws as well,” the senator told CNBC.