Periods of policy uncertainty in Washington are often accompanied by increased lobbying activity. Across industries from health care to technology to agriculture, organizations facing a shifting policy environment turned to K Street in record numbers last year, fueling a lobbying boom that outpaced anything the modern disclosure system has recorded. The spending spanned every sector, every major policy area and both sides of the aisle.
K Street runs east-west through Washington, D.C. It is home to many lobbying firms and trade associations that try to influence federal policy. Corporations and governments hire people to do this work. While not every major lobbying firm is physically located on K Street anymore, the name has stuck as shorthand for the broader lobbying industry in American politics.
Last year, federal lobbying spending reached approximately $5.3 billion, according to Bloomberg Government’s annual analysis of Lobbying Disclosure Act filings. A separate OpenSecrets review placed total spending above $5 billion for the first time. Both analyses found the year-over-year increase was the largest since quarterly disclosures began in 2008.
The $5.3 billion figure reflects spending by a wide range of organizations. According to OpenSecrets, companies, labor unions, trade associations and other influential organizations all spend money to lobby Congress and federal agencies.
Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, any individual who spends at least 20 percent of their time on lobbying activities and makes at least two contacts with covered government officials is required to register and report how much they are compensated, which issues they work on and which agencies they contact.
A total of 15,768 organizations reported lobbying activity during the year, up from 14,061 in 2024. According to Bloomberg Government’s report, lobbying filings related to domestic and foreign trade rose 42 percent year over year, while taxation filings increased 20 percent and manufacturing filings grew 18 percent.
Health care remained the most heavily funded sector overall, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was the most-lobbied measure of 2025, with 2,354 organizations reporting activity on it.
A LegiStorm analysis found that external lobbying firms outspent in-house corporate government affairs operations for the first time on record in 2025, taking in $2.76 billion compared to $2.46 billion. The spending increase was also unevenly distributed along party lines, with Republican-leaning firms posting a 23 percent increase and Democratic-leaning firms growing 2.8 percent.
Sam Geduldig, managing partner at CGCN Group, a Washington-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, and a partner at United By Interest, Washington’s first bipartisan, majority minority-owned lobbying firm, said the record spending reflects broader uncertainty across the policy landscape.
“Rising uncertainty in politics and institutions is driving the increase,” Geduldig said. “When the business environment becomes less predictable, leaders look to understand the terrain and hiring experienced advocates is the first step.”
CGCN Group, which Bloomberg Government designated as a standout firm, reported $19.2 million in 2025 lobbying revenue, a 96 percent increase over the prior year. The firm was among several that saw significant growth amid rising demand for federal advocacy.
The lobbying industry’s expansion did not happen overnight. In “The Wolves of K Street: The Secret History of How Big Money Took Over Big Government,” investigative journalists Brody Mullins and Luke Mullins trace the industry’s transformation over five decades, beginning in the 1970s when Washington’s center of influence began shifting from elected officials to private operatives.
The book chronicles three lobbying dynasties, one Republican and two Democratic, that pioneered tactics from traditional relationship-based advocacy to large-scale public pressure campaigns.
Geduldig, who spent decades working on Capitol Hill as a senior advisor to then–House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, held multiple roles for John Boehner and Bob Dole, and later served on the House Financial Services Committee under then–Chairman Mike Oxley, said the evolution described in the book continues today.
“Relationships used to be everything,” Geduldig said. “Today, success is about building coalitions across class, race and ideology. Winning now requires carrying a full argument, not just persuading a single decision-maker.”
With a record number of organizations now competing for policymakers’ attention, Geduldig said the most effective advocacy requires an integrated approach rather than a single channel of influence.
“We use an integrated model, surround-sound advocacy that combines communications and traditional lobbying to frame issues directly to decision-makers,” he said. “It’s not one tactic, it’s coordination that breaks through.”
The Nov. 3 midterm elections add another layer of complexity for the lobbying industry. All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats will be contested, and both parties have identified competitive races in states including Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia and Michigan.
The elections could produce a range of outcomes, from continued unified control to some form of divided government. Each scenario would carry different implications for legislative priorities across sectors.
Some industries are already positioning for multiple outcomes. An Issue One analysis found that seven of the largest technology, artificial intelligence and social media companies spent a combined $50 million on federal lobbying during the first nine months of 2025. Several have also launched new super PACs ahead of the midterms.
Bloomberg Government’s report also found that lobbying visits to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative increased more than 220 percent in 2025 compared with the prior year. Lobbying directed at the Executive Office of the President and the White House rose more than 70 percent.
Geduldig said the approaching election cycle is already influencing how firms advise clients, regardless of which outcome materializes.
“It’s early to forecast outcomes, but a divided government before a presidential cycle tends to preview what both parties will run on,” he said. “Smart leaders prepare for that early, procrastination usually leads to weaker outcomes.”
The view extends across party lines. Cheri Bustos, a former Democratic congresswoman from Illinois and now a partner and co-chair at Mercury Public Affairs, a bipartisan firm, told Bloomberg Government that bipartisan relationships remain critical in the current environment.
Bustos said that her success now relies on working with colleagues who have “strong relationships” with the current administration.
Public opinion of the lobbying industry has long been mixed. Critics argue that the system disproportionately amplifies the voices of well-funded corporations and interest groups at the expense of ordinary citizens. Proponents, including many within the industry, maintain that advocacy is a protected form of political participation.
“Like it or not, decisions in Washington shape every sector,” Geduldig said. “Advocacy is how organizations engage that system, and at its core, it’s an exercise of First Amendment rights.”
Whether the midterms produce divided government or maintain the status quo, the lobbying industry shows no signs of contracting. If anything, Geduldig said, the demands on advocacy professionals are only growing.
“Advocacy today is more complex, more visible and more competitive,” he said. “The groups that succeed are the ones that treat it as a coordinated, strategic function, not a one-off effort.”
Copy edited by Kennedi Bryant