'Stupid' for companies to engage in politics -McConnell

"I'm not talking about political contributions," McConnell clarified, one day after telling corporations to "stay out of politics." "I'm talking about taking a position on a highly incendiary issue like this and punishing a community or a state because you don't like a particular law that passed. I just think it's stupid."

Major Georgia employers Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines have spoken out against the law signed by Governor Brian Kemp, and Major League Baseball pulled the 2021 All-Star Game out of the state over the law strengthening identification requirements for absentee ballots and making it a crime to offer food or water to voters waiting in line.

Trump spent months after losing his re-election bid falsely claiming that his defeat was the result of widespread fraud. He failed in dozens of legal challenges. Nonetheless, lawmakers in 47 states this year have introduced 361 bills imposing new restrictions on voting, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The Georgia law brought a backlash from some U.S. companies with strong ties to the state.

Coca-Cola Co Chief Executive James Quincey called the law "unacceptable" and a "step backwards." Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said: "The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 election."

Independent reviews have repeatedly shown that voter fraud is rare in the United States, and state and federal probes found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election which the Republican Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Corporate America has long thrown its political muscle behind Republican candidates and office-holders, often funneling more campaign contributions to conservative candidates than Democratic ones.