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As lobbying revenue grows at record pace, Trump-aligned firms reap the biggest rewards
Lobbying firms with close ties to President Donald Trump are raking in staggering amounts of revenue, and K Street spending is growing at the fastest pace since the federal government instituted quarterly reporting requirements in 2008.
While changes in administration shift which lobbying firms attract the most clients, Trump’s second term has introduced outsized growth among businesses that normally lag far behind the top-earning firms.
This year’s lobbying expenditures are growing at the fastest pace since quarterly reporting began in 2008. The first three quarters of 2025 saw a 13.1 percent increase in lobbying spending as compared to 2024. Adjusted for inflation, the year-over-year growth for the first three quarters was 7.7 percent. window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
While third-quarter lobbying tends to be quieter as Congress takes its August recess, Q3 of 2025 saw an 11.8 percent increase in non-adjusted spending when compared to 2024, the largest increase since 2009.
In total, the first nine months of 2025 saw $3.8 billion in lobbying spending. During the same period in 2024, lobbying spending totaled $3.3 billion.
Record increases in spending have coincided with Trump’s sweeping changes to policies and government institutions.
Top lobbying firms
Trump’s second term has been marked by the explosive growth of lobbying firms that have close ties to the president. Leading the pack is Ballard Partners,
Ballard dethroned the previous top-earning lobbying firm, Brownstein, Hyatt, once year-to-date numbers were updated with Q3 earnings. Ballard has been paid $59.5 million for lobbying services in 2025, compared to the former lobbying king’s $54 million. Brownstein, Hyatt had earned the most revenue every year from 2021 to 2024.
In last year’s third quarter, Ballard Partners took in $4.7 million and ranked 16th. This year, it made over five times that, bringing in $25 million in just the third quarter.
The firm’s founder, Brian Ballard, was chairman of the Trump Victory PAC in 2016 and 2017. During President Joe Biden’s term, Ballard remained close with Trump while his lobbying firm lost nearly a dozen clients not even a year into the administration. In the first three quarters since Trump returned to office, the firm gained 135 clients, nearly doubling its roster.
A number of former Ballard Partners lobbyists are now serving in the White House as senior officials, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi. window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
Ballard Partners isn’t the only firm profiting from the new administration. Among the top 20 earners of the third quarter, the firms that saw the most year-over-year growth in the first three quarters all have ties to Trump.
- BGR Group, which reported $51.4 million in lobbying revenue for the first three quarters of 2025, employs former Trump campaign adviser David Urban and previously employed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The firm ended the third quarter with the second-largest revenue among all firms. Last year, it had the fifth-largest revenue in the third quarter.
- Miller Strategies’ revenue in the first nine months increased fourfold between 2024 and 2025. The firm is headed by Jeff Miller, who served as finance chair on Trump’s second inaugural committee. The firm ranked 36th in last year’s third quarter in terms of revenue. This year, it finished fifth.
- Headed by former Trump adviser Carlos Trujillo, Continental Strategy has multiplied its revenue by over 22 times in the first three quarters of 2025 in comparison to the same period in 2024. It reported $18.2 million in revenue in the first nine months of 2025, a staggering jump from the same period last year when it took in about $800,000.
- A practically brand new firm, Checkmate Government Relations, which reported its first quarter of revenue at the end of 2024, has had a meteoric rise in Washington. The firm is led by Ches McDowell, a hunting buddy of Donald Trump Jr.
- Mercury Public Affairs, where Wiles formerly served as co-chair, reported a total of $19.1 million in revenue in the first three quarters of 2025, over double what it earned in the same period last year.
Top issues
Businesses and foreign governments flocked to Trump-connected lobbying firms amid confusion and concern over which imports and countries would be affected by tariffs. As a result, the number of clients who hired lobbyists to address tariff policy more than tripled between the first three quarters of 2024 and 2025, reaching 342. window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
Lobbyists have said that the strategies to affect trade policy have changed since the first Trump administration. To have influence, lobbyists need to have close personal relationships with the president and those serving under him.. Brian Ballard attributed the growth of his firm to attracting clients concerned about tariffs.
Along with tariffs, trade lobbying has also seen an increase in clients, with the number of clients in the first nine months of 2025 increasing 40 percent compared to the same period last year, rising to 1,570. Trade was also the fifth most lobbied issue from Q1 to Q3 in 2025.
The issues with the most lobbyists in the first three quarters of 2025 were the federal budget and appropriations, health issues and taxes.
Top industries
The miscellaneous health industry, which includes health organizations that aren’t health professionals, health services and HMOs or pharmaceuticals, more than doubled its lobbying spending in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the same period last year. The Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid and a potential lapse in funding for the Affordable Care Act have spurred more lobbying activity. In the first nine months of 2025, the industry spent $13.8 million on lobbying. window.addEventListener(“message”,function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[“datawrapper-height”][t]+”px”;r.style.height=d}}});
The industry’s top spender was Kidney Care Partners, which spent $945,000. The groups the organization represents include dialysis providers and pharmaceutical companies. In 2025, they’ve hired lobbyists to consult on Medicaid and Medicare issues and other health issues.
Lobbying in public education policy has come primarily from “school choice” advocacy groups, followed by organizations focused on strengthening or reforming public schools. The industry spent $902,000 in the first nine months, a 97 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Invest in Education Policy, a conservative organization that works to advance school choice, was the highest spender in public education policy. The group spent $500,000 to lobby for the Educational Choice for Children Act of 2025 and the One Big Beautiful Bill. The Educational Choice for Children Act was included in Trump’s OBBB package passed earlier this year. It will provide a tax credit to generate money for families’ educational expenses, including private school tuition.
The industries that spent the most on lobbying in the first nine months of this year are the pharmaceuticals & health products industry, the electronics manufacturing and equipment industry, and the securities and investments industry, which spent $341.3 million, $226.3 million and $136.4 million, respectively.
This article was originally published by OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. View the original article.
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