Corporate America couldn’t hire Republican lobbyists fast enough after President Donald Trump’s election gave the GOP unified control of Washington. Now there are signs that Democrats are back in demand.

Companies and trade groups are trying to hire congressional staffers with ties to influential House Democrats four months ahead of the midterm elections, in which Democrats are expected to pick up seats and potentially retake control of the House. Lobbyists are helping their clients meet with the Democrats who would become committee chairs if the party does win back the chamber. And trade groups are talking to members about what to expect from a Democratic takeover.


“Clients are cautiously beginning to look and say, ‘Do we need to do more with people who have House Democratic expertise?’” said Steve Elmendorf, a prominent Democratic lobbyist and fundraiser who once worked in House leadership.

One senior Democratic House staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he’d been approached about multiple positions downtown, although he said he has rebuffed the offers so far.

Companies are moving to bolster their relationships with influential groups within the House Democratic caucus. Facebook, for instance, recently hired Chris Randle, who had been legislative director to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), a rising star in the Congressional Black Caucus, and the company said it is looking to hire a second lobbyist with ties to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

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Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the powerful drug industry trade group, last month hired Ashley Baker Hayes, a former aide to Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), another Congressional Black Caucus member.

Paul Brathwaite, a Democratic lobbyist and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he’d heard from at least a dozen House staffers who’d been recruited in recent months.

“Whether the Democrats take the majority or not, some of the more savvy companies and lobbying firms are actually trying to figure out how to cover their bases when it comes to the members of these caucuses,” Brathwaite said in an email.

The shift is still in its early stages. Democrats are expected to gain a substantial number of House seats in November, but in interviews, nearly a dozen lobbyists said it was too soon to tell whether Democrats would pick up the 23 seats they need to reclaim the majority. Many said they expect control of the House to be closely divided, and some companies and trade groups won’t move to bolster their relationships with House Democrats until closer to the election.

John Raffaelli, a longtime Democratic lobbyist and the founding partner of Capitol Counsel, said he’d cautioned clients that a Democratic takeover was far from a sure thing. “It’s still more likely than not Republicans hold the House,” Raffaelli said.

The International Franchise Association, meanwhile, is preparing its members for a potential Democratic takeover, warning them that it will be harder to get things done under divided government.

There are advantages to starting to prepare now in case November voting goes Democrats’ way.

Companies and trade groups looking to recruit House Democratic staffers face less competition now than they would if Democrats win back the chamber. And those looking to retain outside lobbyists with House Democratic experience can lock down talent before their rivals do. (Google and Oracle, for instance, typically won’t retain the same lobbying firms to avoid conflicts of interest.)

Democratic lobbyist Heather Podesta said she was having serious conversations each week with companies looking to add Democratic firepower, either now or closer to the election.

“Some people are hiring now,” Podesta said. “The smart ones are hiring now.”

Most of the action is focused on the House. Democrats are in a tougher position in the Senate, where the party is defending 24 seats. They would need to pick off two of the nine Republican-held seats up this year and hold all their current seats — including in states such as West Virginia, Indiana and Missouri that Trump won by double digits — to regain control.

Democrats retaking the Senate would also require a smaller adjustment for K Street than a change in House control. That’s because Republicans need Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster on most legislation, so lobbyists with ties to both parties in the Senate are generally in demand.

Several lobbyists said some companies and trade groups are starting to bend their PAC donations toward House Democrats. Podesta estimated that companies and trade groups that currently send 70 percent of their PAC contributions to Republicans and 30 percent to Democrats are likely to shift to a 60/40 split instead.

Companies and trade groups that already have many lobbying firms on retainer are asking them to help sketch out what a Democratic majority in the House would mean for them.

“There’s an awful lot of interest [from clients] in knowing who’s going to be on the key committees,” said former Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Calif.), a former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman who’s now a lobbyist at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

In some cases, lobbyists are helping their clients build or renew their relationships with top House Democrats.

Democrats on some committees are already hashing out what they’ll do if they win back the majority, said Elizabeth Gore, a Democratic lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, the No. 2 firm in Washington by lobbying revenue. Brownstein lobbyists are working “to make sure our clients are part of those conversations and weighing in on those conversations,” Gore said.

Rich Gold, a Democratic lobbyist at Holland & Knight, said his firm had done some preliminary outreach to senior Democrats on behalf of its clients. But he cautioned that most of the focus was still on what might happen next week, not next year.

“People for the most part are focused on the here and now,” Gold said.