Ballard Partner, a lobbying company led by President Donald Trump’s top fundraiser, has more than tripled its quarterly lobbying revenue compared to a year ago.
The company reports lobbying revenue of $14 million for the first three months of 2025. Ballard reported lobbying revenue of $4.2 million in quarter of 2024.
Many of K Street’s biggest companies have yet to report first quarter revenue ahead of the midnight deadline on Monday, but Ballard’s hauling could likely be placed close to the top.
The beginning of a new administration tends to be advantageous for the lobbying industry. And before Trump took office again, the business was already booming on K Street.
At the end of last year, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck broke through the revenue rankings at $16.9 million in the fourth quarter, while runner-up Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld reported that quarter at $104.6 million. Brownstein’s revenues were slightly soaked in the first quarter of 2025 to $16.8 million.
Longtime Florida lobbyist Brian Ballard founded a Washington office for his company shortly after Trump’s first White House victory in 2017, and soon became one of the go-to companies and industry groups seeking to understand unpredictable political beginners in their oval offices.
Ballard employs many democratic lobbyists, but the company saw business fall during the Biden administration. Still, according to Politico’s analysis, it remains one of K Street’s top 20 companies.
The rise of ballads this year represents the shift that occurs whenever power changes hands in Washington. But that dynamic kicked overdrive ahead of Trump’s second presidency. Ballard has seen a new business tsunami since November along with a handful of other companies with close ties to the administration, including Miller Strategy, Mercury Public Affairs, Michael Best Strategy, and Continent Strategy. These companies did not respond to first-quarter figure requests.
However, Ballard has disclosed more than 130 new lobbying clients since Election Day, including JPMorgan Chase, Chevron, Palantir, Netflix, Ripple Labs, and Business Roundtable. The company also registered in the lobby for several entities selected for punishment by the Trump administration, including Harvard University’s governing body, public broadcasting services and law firm Kirkland & Ellis. (Ballard is also registered in the lobby of Axel Springer, the parent company of Politico.)
Several of Ballard’s former lobbyists are currently working in high positions in Trump’s second administration. Another Ballad alumnus, Trent Morse, works as Trump’s deputy director. The company’s Florida roots mean that Ballard has a relationship with Floridians, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have an influential position in Trump’s Washington.
Fix: Fix: Previous versions of this story had an incorrect period for Ballard to report revenue.
