Trump-connected lobbying firm Ballard Partners rakes in $14M in first quarter

Ballard Partners, the lobbying firm led by a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, has more than tripled its quarterly lobbying revenues compared with the same time a year ago, as companies and organizations have sought help from a handful of firms close to the new administration to decipher a second Trump administration marked by upheaval and retribution.

The firm will report $14 million in lobbying revenues for the first three months of 2024, more than double the $6.2 million Ballard brought in last quarter. Ballard reported $4.2 million in lobbying revenues during the first quarter of 2024.

Many of the largest firms on K Street have yet to report their first quarter revenues ahead of Monday’s midnight deadline, but Ballard’s haul will likely place it near the top.

The beginning of any new administration tends to be lucrative for the lobbying industry — and business was already booming on K Street before Trump swept into office again.

At the end of last year, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck topped the revenue rankings with $16.9 million in revenue in the fourth quarter, according to a POLITICO analysis, while the runner-up, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, reported $14.6 million that quarter. Brownstein’s revenue dipped slightly in the first quarter of 2025, to $16.8 million.

Longtime Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard set up a Washington office for his firm not long after Trump’s first White House victory in 2017, and quickly became one of the go-to firms for companies and trade associations looking to understand the unpredictable political novice in the Oval Office.

Though Ballard employs a number of Democratic lobbyists, the firm saw its business fall during the Biden administration. Still, it remained among the top 20 firms on K Street, according to POLITICO’s analysis.

Ballard’s rise this year represents a shift that happens every time power changes hands in Washington, as corporate America looks for an in with an incoming president or congressional leader. But that dynamic kicked into overdrive ahead of Trump’s second presidency. Ballard, along with a handful of other firms with close ties to the administration, like Miller Strategies, Mercury Public Affairs, Michael Best Strategies and Continental Strategies, have seen a tsunami of new business since November. Those firms did not respond to requests for their first quarter numbers.

But Ballard has disclosed more than 130 new lobbying clients just since Election Day, including JP Morgan Chase, Chevron, Palantir, Netflix, Ripple Labs and the Business Roundtable. The firm also registered to lobby for several entities that have been singled out for punishment by the Trump administration, such as the governing body of Harvard University, Public Broadcasting Service and the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. (Ballard is also registered to lobby for Axel Springer, POLITICO’s parent company.)

Several former lobbyists at Ballard now serve in high-ranking posts in Trump’s second administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Another Ballard alum, Trent Morse, works as Trump’s deputy director of personnel. The firm’s Florida roots mean that Ballard also has relationships with the Floridians in positions of influence in Trump’s Washington, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.