Meta Brings Back Republican to Top Lobbying Job After Search for a Democrat Fizzles

Kevin Martin, U.S. public policy chief for Meta, at an event in Washington, D.C., in 2018. Photo by Bloomberg

Meta Platforms is throwing in the towel on a plan to hire a top Democrat to lead its lobbying team after searching in vain for almost a year for a candidate from the party.

Instead, Meta—the parent company of Facebook—has announced internally that Kevin Martin, the Republican who previously held the company’s top lobbying role, will resume the position, Meta confirmed. The about-face illustrates the depth of Meta’s reputational challenges among high-profile Democrats, many of whom turned down the company when approached about the role.

Meta decided to look for a Democrat to lead its lobbying efforts after the 2020 presidential election, when Joe Biden took office and the Democrats gained a majority in the House and Senate. Martin, who was formerly a Federal Communications Commission chairman in the George W. Bush administration, moved into a new role as Meta’s head of global economic policy in January.