SUSTAINABLE FINANCE NEWSLETTER-US business leaders want stable elections, right?: Ross Kerber

By Ross Kerber

Oct 28 (Reuters) - The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, a correspondent for Reuters.

With the US midterm elections coming up on Nov 3, I recall that the last time around in 2024, top US business groups counseled patience and to be wary of attempts to undermine voters' trust.

The results of that 2024 contest turned out to be the clear election of President Donald Trump. But some executives worried that had Vice President Kamala Harris won, Trump would have encouraged a response akin to the US Capitol attack of January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters tried to stop the US Congress from certifying the election of his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

One proponent for executives to back clean balloting was Daniella Ballou-Aares, a onetime State Department official under President Barack Obama and previously a partner at consulting firm Dalberg. In 2017 she co-founded the Leadership Now Project where she is now CEO. It describes itself as a group of "business leaders who believe that a strong democracy is key to a thriving economy and political stability."

The group could be meeting its moment. My colleagues have written stories outlining how local and state officials are preparing for efforts by Trump to tip the vote and tactics he could use to interfere if congressional contests don't go his way.

I spoke with Ballou-Aares about her organization's efforts, what to expect next week and how to judge top business leaders who may be less inclined to stand up to Trump during this second term than in his first.

The following is a transcript of our conversation, edited for length and clarity. You can also click here for a full audio recording of our talk.

Question: We're talking before the US midterm elections. What role is there for business leaders in all this?

Answer: When you have really critical moments for society, you need all sectors involved. And business, even though Americans love to hate and love business for different reasons. CEOs, for instance, remain one of the most trusted voices for their employees. The data shows that. And so we're conscious that business leaders are recognized in their communities. As participants in society, they would like society to work. We think it's important to distinguish ourselves versus crony capitalism. A lot of Americans are now associating business with that kind of behavior.

Many business leaders do not want to operate in that way. And we think it's important to demonstrate what looking, what that looks like to be a business leader who both has respect for the rule of law and wants to be part of making the country stronger.

Q: You're reminding me of the one of the discussion points around the Hungarian elections earlier this year. You have a memo on your website, if you could talk about this memo?

A: We've been doing that now for years, and we have a lot of action at the state level. There are certain states that have particular risks of election interference like Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan. And so we have helped organize business leader statements, more quiet engagement with legislatures to support for election workers.

The good news is actually there's a good response infrastructure at the state level with many CEOs who are either publicly coming out now or who have been primed to respond if we get into a crisis.

Q: I imagine one of the challenges is a habit of business leaders to say, you know, politics is not my thing, or I don't want to offend my customers on either side.

A: I agree that some of the big public company CEOs have not been out there at this time on this, as they have actually in some previous elections. But we also think that the influence to suggest that all of business is silent, I think is a mistake because it suggests that the only people who represent business are (Tesla CEO Elon) Musk, (JPMorgan CEO Jamie) Dimon, (Meta CEO Mark) Zuckerberg or (Blackstone CEO Stephen) Schwarzman. First of all, there happen to be women who are CEOs in this country, but also that's the beauty of this country is we have so many companies. Our members are typically large companies or medium to large, but that doesn't mean they're the Fortune 50.

Q: I don't see Donald Trump called out or mentioned much on your website. I bring this up because my own colleagues have been very specific about some of the stories we've run (about potential election-meddling by the Trump administration). Is it easier for you to frame this with your executives as somehow not being about Trump ?

A: As an organization, we've been very clear along the way that the administration is breaking the rule of law. We're party to amicus briefs against the administration over multiple years, whether it's for pulling funding unlawfully from universities or tariffs and trade, et cetera. So as an organization, we have been very willing to be clear when we think the administration is either breaking the law or undermining elections. In the materials you would see around describing the election process, the risks, it may not be something we're covering front and center, in part because we're trying to give people just a perspective on the process and the risk factors.

Q: I'm trying to think of the other side here. Maybe the big companies (who haven’t said much about the elections) are just trying to be nonpartisan? Or they see it as good business to just stay on the administration's good side?

A: We think there is danger in not doing anything, right, as much as there's danger in doing something. Now, I think companies and executives do need to be smart about what are the things they can do to have an impact. And I will say there's been a lot of things that have happened behind the scenes that have been impactful.

Q: Some of the (traditional election officials) can face the most personal attacks.

A: 100%. Stephen Richer (a Republican and previously an election official in Arizona) got our award. Some of them have had to leave their homes, their families are getting attacked. Recognizing the risk that they face is key.

Q: We talked in passing about the US Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable that represents CEOs. Before the 2024 election they each had statements along the lines of "be patient, don't jump to conclusions about results." But I don't see any such statements from them now. Why? [I reached out to both groups but neither had a comment on the upcoming midterms.]

A: It would be a very small fraction (of business leaders) who are ready to throw elections out the door. I will say that the business associations as a whole have been, on many issues, not oriented towards coming out publicly, unless they had a very specific kind of legal case to be had. We can moralize on whether they should be public or not. But I really do think the groundwork has been laid for a kind of robust response (if needed).

Q: Couldn’t people say something like what’s the big deal? We’ve had uncertainty about elections before. Couldn’t the economy just muddle through?

A: Americans still pride themselves on their independence and our constitution and having a society where we can choose for ourselves. Is that always front and center? No, but I cannot find business leaders that want our country to not function as a democratic society.

The risk of what we're seeing now and, not just efforts to undermine elections, but the crony capitalism it's super dangerous for business. We know it from Russia to Hungary to everywhere else.