lobbyist

noun

lob·​by·​ist ˈlä-bē-ist 

plural lobbyists

: one who conducts activities aimed at influencing or swaying public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation : a person engaged in lobbying public officials

The new rule says that if you were a registered lobbyist in the past two years, you can't work for the administration on any issue you touched. After you leave government, you can't lobby the administration at all.

—Jacob Weisberg

Because so many lobbyists have past experience on Capitol Hill, they usually have personal ties both to members of congress and to their key staffers, who vet and prioritize the earmark requests.

—Ken Silverstein

Examples of lobbyist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Doug Taylor, a lobbyist for Opportunity Solutions Project, the political arm of the Foundation for Government Accountability, told the Statesman FGA drafted House Bill 669, a bill to ban large banks from using ESG factors. —Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 3 Apr. 2024

At his side for at least part of the trip was Ms. Tao, the lobbyist, who had risen to the post of vice president at Tesla. —John Liu, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2024

In the new tailpipe emissions rule, the US EPA tried to make auto lobbyists and environmentalists happy by acknowledging that real-world plug-in hybrid driving is far from emissions-free. —Aarian Marshall, WIRED, 25 Mar. 2024

By one measure, Direct File’s total employees are outnumbered by just the lobbyists working for Intuit. —Saahil Desai, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2024

In response, lobbyists stepped up their efforts to convince lawmakers to add transparency provisions around the use of music in AI – a move which was fiercely opposed by the technology industry, which argued that tougher regulations would put European AI developers at a competitive disadvantage. —Richard Smirke, Billboard, 13 Mar. 2024

Denni Ritter, a lobbyist for the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, a national trade group, criticized the revision, and instead suggested the department impose a strict deadline for staff to complete reviews. —Stephen Hobbs, Sacramento Bee, 27 Mar. 2024

But their academic papers are competing against the promises of lobbyists and the allure of Hollywood stars and exclusive parties. —Christopher Kuo, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2024

Critics accuse Yass of bankrolling an army of lobbyists and orchestrating a bare-knuckle pressure campaign to protect TikTok — including by leveraging his nascent relationship with former President Donald Trump. —Kalhan Rosenblatt, NBC News, 12 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above