Tobacco companies spend millions of dollars lobbying in the U.S. every year in an attempt to weaken, delay or kill life-saving public health policies.
ASH began tracking tobacco industry lobbyists and lobbying firm registrations in 2021, amidst a global respiratory pandemic, and noted significant increases at that time in tobacco industry spending at the federal level to undermine public health and tobacco control policies.
Unfortunately, Big Tobacco’s influence in Washington D.C. remains strong in 2024 as lobbying efforts delayed the lifesaving ruling for ending the sale of menthol cigarettes to an unknown date.
Although 2024 data is not yet available, in 2023 the tobacco industry had 262 lobbyists registered at the federal level, 75.57% of whom were former government employees likely to have increased access to highly influential people (source). Former government employees now working for tobacco companies can permeate the House of Representatives, the Senate, and our Federal Agencies, to the detriment of public health.
In 2024 at the state level, a total of 1027 registrations for tobacco industry lobbyists or lobbying firms were identified, involving 950 distinct lobbyists or lobbying firms. This was an increase in tobacco industry registrations, compared to 927 registrations in 2023, and 1001 registrations in 2021.
Click on each state to see the pop up with a top-level break down.
Then click More (or the state list in the side bar) for a detailed break down and sources.
Altria (previously known as Philip Morris USA) had a total of 315 registrations of lobbyists or lobbying firms, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Reynolds American had a total of 197 registrations of lobbyists or lobbying firms covering 48 states. Philip Morris International (PMI) Global Services, with combined ownership of Swedish Match since 2023, had a total of 145 registrations of lobbyists or lobbying firms covering 38 states. Most tobacco industry lobbyists and lobbying firms were also registered to serve a variety of other clients.
Notably, public records indicate that 12 states and DC require or allow lobbying firms to register, instead of individual lobbyists. Because lobbying firms often employ many lobbyists, the tobacco industry is often able to mask the actual number and names of individual lobbyists who are working on their behalf in those states from public view.
The ASH Lobbyist Tracker focuses on publicly available state-level registrations, with links provided to each official state webpage. The 2024 Tracker only includes 2023 lobbyist registrations for Nevada, since the state’s legislature meets biennially. A spreadsheet of the data found in the following map can be reviewed here. A spreadsheet of the data found on the state pages can be reviewed here.
State-Level Lobbying Registration Trends
Since ASH began tracking tobacco industry lobbying in 2021, registrations have increased in some states and decreased in others. Across the US, 23 states had more registrations in 2024 than in 2021, while 17 states had less, and the remaining 10 states and the District of Colombia had the same.
Overall, total registrations in 2024 show a 10.7% increase from 2023 data and 2.5% increase from 2021 base year registrations. This marks 100 more registrations from 2023 to 2024. Despite Juul experiencing an 81% decrease in registrations as of 2024, this general growth trend for tobacco lobbying registrations persists. Specifically, there were 927 registrations in 2023 and 1027 in 2024.
Since Philip Morris International (PMI) Global Services acquired Swedish Match in 2023, there has been a considerable increase in the number of lobbyists they collectively employ across the U.S. To our knowledge, PMI Global Services has not previously had any registered lobbyists in the U.S., so this merger has shown a big shift in lobbying strategies. Under PMI’s ownership, Swedish Match has increased the number of lobbyists they employ by 200%, from 8 lobbyists and 3 lobbying firms in 2021 to 128 lobbyists and 17 lobbying firms in 2024. Additionally, lobbyists originally representing Juul dispersed to represent several other tobacco companies.
Altria, RAI, PMI, among other tobacco companies, increased their total lobbying registrations, while Juul and General Cigar’s were reduced. See state-by-state comparisons of 2021, 2023, and 2024 tobacco industry lobbying registrations here.
How Advocates Can Use the ASH Lobbyist Tracker
This compiled data shines a light on the scope of tobacco lobbyists and tobacco lobbying firms in each U.S. state, ensuring elected officials, advocates, and media know who they are and whose “advice” not to trust on public health.
There is an irreconcilable conflict between tobacco companies and public health.
Involving tobacco companies in the regulation of their own products not only undermines public health but also violates the global standards for tobacco regulation laid out in the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3 (source).
Tobacco companies must be actively excluded from policymaking, and to do that, you must first know who they are. This tracker data shows who cannot be trusted to put forth good public health policy.
Advocates can use the ASH Tobacco Industry Lobbyist and Lobbying Firm Registration Tracker to:
– Actively monitor the lobbying efforts of tobacco industry stakeholders in your state to grasp their influence on policymaking and seek to counteract their influence.
– Identify trends in tobacco industry lobbying activities to stay informed and proactive in advocacy efforts.
– Utilize tracker data for targeted outreach towards policymakers and community leaders, highlighting the impact of tobacco industry lobbying on public health and the need to exclude the tobacco industry and their lobbyists.
– Use insights from the tracker to empower your advocacy by crafting evidence-based policy recommendations and advocating for robust regulations against tobacco industry influence.
Learn more about other tactics tobacco companies use to infiltrate public health policymaking in ASH’s U.S. Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 here> and the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 here>
ASH and partners are hosting a webinar to discuss tobacco industry lobbying in the U.S. on May 2, 2024 at noon ET. Register here>
Background
This project stems from a similar online tracking project in Oklahoma used by advocates and policymakers to help raise awareness of tobacco industry interference in their state. Inspired by that successful grassroots initiative, ASH and Doug Matheny of the Health Promotion Research Center at the University of Oklahoma Stephenson Cancer Center researched the issue on a national scale to provide this valuable tool to all advocates and policymakers across the United States.
Contact Us with Additions
Not all tobacco lobbyists are employed by a known major tobacco company. If you know of tobacco lobbyists in your state or region that we missed, please contact us at info@ash.org with that information so we can update our Tracker Data accordingly. Thank you!
