Politics
Inside Grindr’s political power play
Call it a case of strange bedfellows.
Grindr, the LGBTQ+ dating app, has expanded its political presence in both Washington and California as it seeks to flex its influence muscles on a range of policy priorities. The app’s ambitions have grown since President Donald Trump’s return to office — and much of that is due to the registered Republican running the shop.
Since April 2025, Joe Hack has navigated a GOP-controlled Washington as he pushes forward Grindr’s biggest legislative priorities. Out in California, George Arison, Grindr’s self-described “conservative” CEO, has waded into primary politics, pushing moderate San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan as the next governor.
Even amid Trump’s anti-DEI and LGBTQ+ crackdown, Hack told Blue Light News he’s found room for bipartisan agreement in Washington. And the scale of Grindr’s influence will be on full display Friday, when the app hosts its inaugural White House Correspondents Dinner weekend party — for which Democrats and Republicans alike have been clamoring to get an invite.
“We’re planting a flag,” Hack said in an interview. “We’ve been doing policy work here now for a year, and the issues we care about are important not just to us, but to our community.”
The glitzy bash — held in a $9 million, 10-bedroom Georgetown mansion — is one of the buzziest fetes of the upcoming weekend, and the guest list has been closed for more than a week. “The interest level has been insane,” Hack said. Though he declined to provide a preview of expected attendees, he teased that “very high level people from both sides” had RSVP’d. “We’ll see if they come,” he said.
Before taking over Grindr’s lobbying, Hack spent more than a decade as an aide to Republicans on Capitol Hill. That included six years as chief of staff to Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), who voted against codifying gay marriage about a year after Hack transitioned to the private sector.
Now, Hack is leading a lobbying blitz at Grindr. The app has poured $1.6 million into its influence operation since it registered to lobby federal lawmakers in April 2025. In the first three months of 2026, Grindr spent $432,500 on its in-house lobbying operation, as well as an additional $120,000 across two large lobbying firms working on its behalf, according to disclosures published this week. The legislation Grindr is targeting includes issues related to “surrogacy and IVF access for same-sex couples,” as well as two bills — one sponsored by Rep. John James (R-Mich.) and one by Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) — that would make it more difficult for minors to download the 18+ app.
“One area that might be surprising is we’ve had very productive conversations with some House Republicans on online safety and working to keep kids safe, but also do it in a way that’s privacy-forward,” Hack said.
But its main focus has been on HIV prevention funding. Grindr partners with the Centers for Disease Control to distribute HIV self-test kits in the U.S. through its app, Hack said, and partners with other organizations globally to use its platform to increase access to health care.
Last year, Trump demanded that Congress authorize more than $400 million in spending cuts to PEPFAR, the global HIV-AIDS program started under former President George W. Bush. Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) vocally criticized the cuts, and the White House ultimately relented.
Lobbying disclosures show that Grindr specifically targeted that rescissions bill. A spokesperson for Collins confirmed that her team had met with Grindr, writing in a statement that “Senator Collins has a strong record of supporting the LGBTQ community.”
“Most recently, Senator Collins has been recognized as a leading advocate for PEPFAR and continuing the U.S.’s important role in the fight against HIV/AIDs,” Collins spokesperson Blake Kernen said in a statement. “She appreciates this recognition of her leadership.”
Hack also personally contributed $3,500 to Collins, which he told Blue Light News came through a donation at a Sept. 25 fundraiser. He also said he expected to give $3,500 to Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), another partner in HIV prevention, in June.
“As the administration is contemplating PEPFAR 2.0 and what that looks like, we would like to step up in a more meaningful way as a public-private partner,” he said. “We’re not looking for tax money. What we’re looking for is really to leverage the power of our platform and our unique and unparalleled reach that no other company has, and to use that on behalf of our community to grow health care access.”
Grindr’s focus on health care, Hack said, is part of what he called Arison’s goal of expanding the platform beyond just a relationship app and into a “global gayborhood” at the intersection of telehealth, travel and leisure.
Since taking over as CEO in 2022, Arison has pushed to implement AI into the app and has been a supporter of Trump’s light-touch AI regulation policies. Despite dipping his toes into the California gubernatorial race, don’t expect Arison to become a new political player.
“In general, I don’t get involved in politics,” Arison told Blue Light News in an interview last week. “I don’t want Grindr involved in politics at all.”
As for this weekend’s party, the expectations are high among the D.C. chattering class.
Jon Levine, a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon who calls himself an “infamous conservative hatchet man,” told Blue Light News he would certainly be at the event.
Asked why, he responded with just two words: “Hard news.”
Christine Mui contributed to this report.
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Republicans are pointing to the World Cup in their persistent bid to force Democrats to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Millions of visitors from foreign countries have already begun their pilgrimage to the tournament, which kicked off this week.
“Hosting the World Cup is akin to having 78 Super Bowls in 38 days — a massive undertaking from a national security perspective,” the Senate GOP wrote in a post on X Friday. “Senate Democrats still let FISA 702 expire, hindering our ability to stop potential terror attacks before they happen.”
The law is all but certain to expire today as Congress remains in uproar over Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence. Efforts to secure a short-term extension in the House and Senate both failed Thursday.
And if a terrorist attack happened at the World Cup? “It would be a lot of finger-pointing,” Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told Blue Light News on Friday. “You should just pull out every stop right now to make sure that there are no problems.”
President Donald Trump announced plans to nominate the more palatable Jay Clayton for the full-time DNI job on Thursday, a choice that garnered immediate approval from Republican leadership.
Democrats, Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social, “are trying to take our national security hostage because of unrelated issues.”
But Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the chamber’s Intelligence Committee, placed the blame for the stalemate squarely on Trump. Negotiations on a long-term extension were well on their way before Trump announced his Pulte pick.
“God forbid, as we move into the World Cup, that something would happen,” he told reporters Thursday. “But if something happens, it lies at the feet of the president.”
Young pushed back. The two-term senator disagreed with Trump’s call to tap Pulte for the interim nod, but he said Democrats are the ones passing up an opportunity to reauthorize the law.
“He could have also passed a 702 reauthorization that very night he uttered those words,” he said. “And he and others chose not to.”
Missouri is not launching a probe into pricing strategies employed by FIFA, a spokesperson from the state attorney general’s office told Blue Light News, as several states playing host to World Cup matches take the organization to task for allegedly misleading fans.
Colbey Stosberg, public affairs specialist at the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, said in a statement that the office is instead focusing on “the unfortunate opportunity it creates for scammers to exploit travelers and match attendees.”
Missouri’s Arrowhead Stadium will play host to four games during the World Cup group stage, as well as a round of 32 matchup and a quarterfinal. Argentina will take on Algeria next Tuesday, Kansas City’s first game of the tournament.
“We haven’t received any complaints about purportedly deceptive pricing strategies yet,” Stosberg said. “If we do happen to receive those, we will review the complaint and determine any appropriate actions to be taken.”
On Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a new investigation over allegations that FIFA misled fans into spending more money for seats with premium views, only to change the seating maps.
New York and New Jersey launched their own joint investigation into ticket pricing in May. And California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a letter to FIFA, seeking information “to assess potential violations of California law.”
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