Oakland A’s owner John Fisher donates to anti-abortion election denier

On Sept. 29, Fisher donated to the political campaign of Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, who repeatedly objected to the 2020 presidential election, has called for a national abortion ban and believes humans are not the primary drivers of climate change. Fisher gave the maximum allowed amount for a congressional candidate, $3,300, to Arrington, according to FEC filings reviewed by SFGATE.

Since August, Fisher has also donated to independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema; Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.; Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., and a conservative political action committee, according to FEC filings.

Fisher has a long history of giving to politicians — mostly Republicans, sometimes moderate Democrats. His $3,300 to Arrington diverges slightly, though, in that it’s not clear why, exactly, a California MLB owner is giving to a West Texas politician who can win reelection in his sleep.

Arrington represents a deep-red West Texas district with a smaller population than the city of San Francisco. He’s been in office since 2016, has never faced a serious challenger and is extremely unlikely to face one in the 2024 election either. His competition in the upcoming March primary looks like it’ll be Vance W. Boyd, a former bull rider and fellow Republican who lost hugely to Arrington in the 2020 GOP primary, winning just 11% of the vote to Arrington’s 89%. (Arrington was endorsed by former President Donald Trump before that primary, too.)

Boyd’s campaign this time around has raised little money, and he has a basically nonexistent social media following. He hardly seems like a serious threat, adding mystery to why Fisher felt compelled to back Arrington this cycle.

In July 2022, shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Arrington held an anti-abortion panel in West Texas, where he said he wanted to push for a federal ban on abortion, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “I’m working on it right now, to take the state of Texas law, which basically prohibits abortion except in the situation where the mother’s life is at risk. … I’d like to have that the law of the land,” Arrington reportedly said.

A few months after that, in September 2022, Arrington explained his stance on climate change during a House committee meeting.

“I believe the climate is changing, but I do not buy into the premise that human activity is driving that,” Arrington said. “I do not buy into the premise that it’s the greatest threat to the United States or the planet, and that’s the framework that our president and the radical left have supported.”