WASHINGTON — In the week voters handed Democrats control of Congress, Washington’s lobbying shops filed 57 new federal lobbying registrations, and more than half of them name a lobbyist who once held a government job, an Inquisitor review of the public filings shows.
The registrations, posted to the Lobbying Disclosure Act database at lda.gov from Tuesday, Nov. 3, through Friday, Nov. 6, include three former members of Congress, a onetime deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States and a cluster of defense-technology start-ups seeking money in the next defense bills. Defense tied manufacturing and the federal budget as the most common issue area, each listed on eight registrations.
The filings show who is being hired and for what, not how much they are paid. Registrations (Form LD-1) list the client, the issues, the lobbyists and any “covered” executive or legislative branch positions those lobbyists held. Fees appear only in the quarterly reports due Jan. 20, 2027.
Timing also matters. Most of these engagements began before the election. Twenty-five of the 57 registrations list an effective date of Oct. 1, and only four list a date of Nov. 3 or later, so the filings mostly reflect hiring decisions made before the results were known. They are a snapshot of what clients wanted from the outgoing Republican Congress and the administration, and of the alumni they hired to get it.
This is the second week the Inquisitor has mapped every new registration. Last week’s review of 43 registrations posted Oct. 26 to Nov. 2 found former Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) registered for RSM US and a similar defense-tech cluster.
By the numbers
| Measure | Count |
|---|---|
| New registrations (LD-1) posted | 57 |
| Registering firms or organizations | 39 |
| Registrations listing a lobbyist with a covered government position | 35 |
| Former members of Congress named | 3 |
| Registrations listing defense (DEF) as an issue | 8 |
| Registrations disclosing a foreign entity | 4 |
| Registrations with an effective date of Oct. 1 | 25 |
| Registrations with an effective date of Nov. 3 or later | 4 |
Registrations were heaviest on Election Day itself, with 19 posted Tuesday, then 14 on Wednesday, 17 on Thursday and seven on Friday. The share listing former officials was highest on Tuesday, when 14 of 19 did.
The busiest firms
Continental Strategy filed seven registrations, more than any other firm. Its lobbyists on those filings include Carlos Trujillo, whose registration for Florida-based Corex International lists his covered position as “Former US OAS Ambassador,” and Wessam Hassanein, listed as a former “Special Advisor to the Vice President” on a registration for Future Pipe Industries, a Texas fiberglass-pipe maker. The filing does not say which vice president Hassanein advised. The Future Pipe registration discloses a foreign entity, Future Group Holdings SA SPF of Luxembourg.
Continental’s other new clients are Treaty Oak Clean Energy, a Texas power developer; Mobix Labs, a California maker of wireless and electromagnetic filtering systems, on “defense, manufacturing, and critical resources infrastructure”; Winner Water Services of Pennsylvania, on coal-ash and mine-waste remediation and critical-minerals recovery; Calceus Acquisition, a New Hampshire footwear company; and ANDE Corp. of Colorado, on DNA analysis and biosurveillance. The Corex registration describes its issue only as “commercial and strategic interests” under the foreign relations code.
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck filed five registrations, and Brooks Consulting Group filed two more on Brownstein’s behalf, for Suffolk Primary Health and the University of Notre Dame.
| Firm | New registrations | Clients |
|---|---|---|
| Continental Strategy | 7 | Future Pipe Industries; Treaty Oak Clean Energy; Mobix Labs; Winner Water Services; Calceus Acquisition; ANDE Corp.; Corex International |
| Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | 5 | Falcon Attack & Defense Autonomy; Coder Technologies; Revolutional; Immix Biopharma; Suffolk Primary Health |
| Brooks Consulting Group | 2 | Brownstein on behalf of the University of Notre Dame; Brownstein on behalf of Suffolk Primary Health |
| ML Strategies | 2 | DRK Strategies on behalf of Save the American West; Insulet Corp. |
| Steptoe | 2 | Machina Labs; Apotex Corp. |
| OnMessage Public Strategies | 2 | Epsilon 3; ActioHealth |
| J.A. Green and Company | 2 | Assured Space; FORT Robotics |
| Venn Strategies | 2 | On Energy Storage; Edgar & Associates on behalf of the California Compost Coalition |
| Capitol67 Strategies | 2 | First Solar; Granicus |
| The Attention Studio | 2 | National Whistleblower Center; Parents Together Action |
Three former members of Congress
The registrations name three former House members. Under federal law, former members face a one-year ban on lobbying Congress after leaving office (two years for former senators); all three left more than a year ago.
| Lobbyist | Former seat (as listed) | Firm | Client | Issue as described |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Guinta | Member of Congress, New Hampshire 1st District | ML Strategies | DRK Strategies on behalf of Save the American West | Sheep Creek Mining Project in the Bitterroot National Forest |
| Filemon Vela | Member of Congress, 2013–2022 | Valiant Strategies | The Roosevelt Group on behalf of Port San Antonio | The campus’s role in aerospace, defense and cybersecurity |
| Jeff Duncan | U.S. representative, South Carolina 3rd District, 2011–2025 | Covenant Government Affairs | Oshkosh Corp. | FY27/FY28 legislative initiatives on regulations important to Oshkosh brands |
Guinta, a New Hampshire Republican, and Duncan, a South Carolina Republican, are joined by Vela, a Texas Democrat. The Oshkosh registration lists appropriations, manufacturing, postal and trucking issue codes; Oshkosh builds military trucks and the Postal Service’s next-generation delivery vehicle.
Former executive branch officials
At least 17 lobbyists on the new filings list senior executive branch posts in Republican and Democratic administrations. The table below lists covered positions exactly as summarized in the filings.
| Lobbyist | Covered position listed (summary) | Firm | Client |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Fields | Deputy assistant to President Trump; deputy policy director for Speaker Johnson | Williams and Jensen | Southwest Power Pool |
| Matthew Flynn | Deputy assistant to the president and acting White House Cabinet secretary; deputy assistant secretary of defense | Steptoe | Machina Labs; Apotex Corp. |
| Wessam Hassanein | Special adviser to the vice president | Continental Strategy | Future Pipe Industries |
| Carlos Trujillo | Former U.S. ambassador to the OAS | Continental Strategy | Corex International |
| David Redl | Assistant secretary of commerce and NTIA administrator | Salt Point Strategies | Advanced Micro Devices |
| Derek Theurer | Counselor to the Treasury secretary; deputy under secretary | Venable | Coalition for Accessible, Affordable, and Reliable Energy in America |
| Christopher Hull | DHS assistant secretary, Office of Partnership and Engagement | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Revolutional |
| Sean Bartlett | Deputy assistant secretary of state; senior vice president, EXIM | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Revolutional |
| Maxwell Huntley | National Security Council director for defense policy and strategy | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Falcon Attack & Defense Autonomy |
| Leonor Tomero | Deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy | J.A. Green and Company | Assured Space |
| Taryn Frideres | State Department policy planning and senior adviser to the deputy secretary; deputy to the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. | Squire Patton Boggs | Transat Management Co. |
| Anne Austin | EPA principal deputy assistant administrator for air and radiation; Region 6 administrator | Austin Legal and Public Affairs | LK Packaging |
| Kate Marks | Energy Department deputy assistant secretary for infrastructure security and energy restoration | Venn Strategies | On Energy Storage |
| Emily Felder | Director of the Office of Legislation, CMS | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Suffolk Primary Health |
| Sara Morse | HHS principal deputy assistant secretary for legislation | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Suffolk Primary Health |
| Christopher Syrek | Chief of staff, Department of Veterans Affairs | OnMessage Public Strategies | ActioHealth |
| Kristi Miller | Senior adviser to the agriculture secretary; White House Office of American Innovation | Alston & Bird | Mitsubishi Cement Corp. |
Flynn also appeared in last week’s registrations; this week’s filings add two new clients, Machina Labs, a California manufacturing company, and generic-drug maker Apotex, on trade, tariffs and domestic manufacturing.
Fields, whose listed positions also include executive director of the Republican Study Committee, registered with Daniel Ziegler, another former RSC executive director, for Southwest Power Pool, the regional grid operator, on its “Market Initiative.”
Senior executive branch officials are generally barred for one year from lobbying their former agencies under federal ethics law. The filings do not say which agencies or offices each lobbyist will contact.
Hill staff from both parties
Former congressional staff appear on both sides of the aisle. Invariant’s registration for America’s Credit Unions, on the credit union tax exemption, data privacy and CFPB rules, lists Aaron Groce, deputy chief of staff to Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) through 2026, alongside Ryan Dilworth, chief of staff to Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) through 2026, and Alejandro Cisneros, a former legislative director to Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.).
S-3 Group’s registration for Atticus Labs on Social Security disability issues lists Michaeleen Crowell, a former chief of staff to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Martin Reiser, a former policy director to Republican Whip Steve Scalise. Van Scoyoc Associates’ filing for Merrimack College lists John Dowd, a former chief of staff to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and adviser to Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Appropriations staff are in demand, too. Icebreaker Strategies registered for Walacor Corp., a Maryland enterprise-software company, on “federal funding for enterprise software,” listing Brian Potts, a former staff director of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, and Will Todd, a former Appropriations Committee professional staff member.
The defense-tech cluster
Eight registrations list defense as an issue, and most involve small technology companies seeking a place in the fiscal 2027 appropriations bills or the fiscal 2028 National Defense Authorization Act. The filings come as the Pentagon presses for more money; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday asked Congress for a reconciliation bill of at least $350 billion in additional military funding.
| Firm | Client | Client description (as filed) | Issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| MO Strategies | AeroDominance | Mission-critical drone components and subsystems | FY2027 funding, FY2028 NDAA |
| Valiant Strategies | The Roosevelt Group on behalf of Port San Antonio | Innovation and technology campus in Texas | Aerospace, defense and cybersecurity |
| Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Falcon Attack & Defense Autonomy | Unmanned system software developer | Defense appropriations and NDAA funding opportunities |
| Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck | Coder Technologies | AI development infrastructure and software | AI software, cybersecurity, NDAA |
| J M Burkman & Associates | Lawelawe Management Group | Government contracting and Hawaii-based interests | DoD and DHS contracting |
| Hither Creek Strategies | GRVTY | National security | Defense authorization and appropriations, technology |
| J.A. Green and Company | Assured Space | Communication, radar and network security hardware | Missile defense radars |
| J.A. Green and Company | FORT Robotics | Wireless safety systems for autonomous machines | NDAA and appropriations |
The missile-defense registration stands out for its lobbyist. Leonor Tomero, who registered for Arizona-based Assured Space on “issues related to missile defense radars,” lists her covered positions as counsel to the House Armed Services Committee and deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear and missile defense policy.
Foreign ties
Four registrations disclose a foreign entity with an interest in the lobbying, which the law requires when a foreign entity owns at least 20 percent of the client or controls, supervises or significantly funds its lobbying activity:
| Client | Firm | Foreign entity listed | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coalition for Accessible, Affordable, and Reliable Energy in America (informal) | Venable | Cenovus Energy Inc. | Canada |
| Mitsubishi Cement Corp. | Alston & Bird | Mitsubishi UBE Cement Corp. | Japan |
| Future Pipe Industries | Continental Strategy | Future Group Holdings SA SPF | Luxembourg |
| Contingency Capital | Contingency Capital (in-house) | Contingency Capital L.P. | Cayman Islands |
The Venable registration, on the interstate pipeline transportation of crude oil and refined products, lists James Barnett, a former general counsel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Theurer, the former Treasury counselor. Contingency Capital, a New York asset manager focused on credit-oriented legal assets, registered to lobby on its own behalf on litigation-funding bills, including the Protecting Our Courts from Foreign Manipulation Act (H.R. 2675) and the Tackling Predatory Litigation Funding Act (H.R. 3512 and S. 1821). The Alston & Bird filing covers a donation of land to the U.S. Forest Service subject to an existing utility easement.
What else clients want
The rest of the filings track the issues of the lame-duck session and next year. Eastern Fisheries, a New Jersey seafood importer, hired Vitello Consulting on “IEEPA tariff refunds.” Scout Motors, the Virginia-based electric-vehicle maker, hired Ridge Path Strategies on trade negotiations and tariffs. Advanced Micro Devices hired Salt Point Strategies on AI radio-access networks, communications equipment and AI research. Total Wine & More hired Impact Management Group on the regulation of low-dose hemp-derived beverages, and First Solar hired Capitol67 Strategies for what the filing calls a strategy “aligning First Solar’s agenda with the current environment in Washington.”
Methodology
The Inquisitor downloaded every registration (filing type RR) posted to the LDA database’s public API from Nov. 3 through the time of the query early Sunday, Nov. 8, which returned 57 unique filings posted Nov. 3–6. Issue areas are the general issue codes on each filing; a filing can list several. Covered positions are quoted or summarized from the lobbyists’ own disclosures and were not independently verified; they are self-reported and may be incomplete. Lobbyists who appear on several activity lines were counted once per filing. Each filing is available at lda.gov; the Inquisitor’s coded list of all 57 is available on request.
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